The Milwaukee Bucks will look to go up 2-0 in the first round series with the Miami Heat when Game 2 tips off Monday night at Fiserv Forum.
The Bucks struck first Saturday afternoon with a gritty 109-107 overtime victory over the Heat, thanks to the game-winning shot that Khris Middleton knocked in with 0.5 seconds remaining in the extra period.
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With that setting the tone for this highly anticipated rematch between the two sides, it didn’t take long for an intense playoff series to unfold between the Bucks and reigning Eastern Conference champs.
So without further ado, let’s explore the three biggest things to watch for going into the Milwaukee Bucks’ Game 2 with the Miami Heat Monday night.
Can the Milwaukee Bucks find shooting touch from 3-point line?
It goes without saying that the Bucks have much to improve when it came to their shooting performance in their Game 1 win to kick off their series.
Going for 5-for-31 from that range (16.1 percent), the Bucks unsurprisingly put together their worst shooting display of the season to kick off their playoff. That disparity in the success that the Heat had in hitting a franchise-record 20 3-pointers on 40 percent shooting and still losing wound up being quite the feat as the Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds explained after the game.
NBA teams were 73-1 all-time when outscoring an opponent by at least 45 points from the 3-point line.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) May 22, 2021
Until today.
Heat outscored Bucks 60-15 from deep. And lost.
Other loss: Heat were outscored 54-6 from deep by the Knicks in January 2012, but beat New York 99-89 that night.
As one of the best and most prolific shooting teams in the league this regular season, there’s no question that they will progress to the mean. To that point, the Bucks shot 1-for-12 on wide-open threes and were 2-for-12 on open threes, per NBA.com/stats.
Even with taking into account that all three triples that Giannis Antetokounmpo attempted fell under that umbrella, the Bucks’ shooters are better than what they showed in Game 1. Whether they can create those same kind of looks against a motivated Heat defense remains to be seen though.