Through the first two games of their first round series with the Miami Heat, the Milwaukee Bucks have shown capable of winning in different fashions.
Game 1 was a messy slugfest that saw the Bucks come out on top in overtime thanks to a high-arcing fadeaway shot made by Khris Middleton that gave the Bucks a 109-107 victory. Game 2 was a completely different affair as the Bucks ran through the Heat in a 132-98 victory, which is the fourth-largest playoff victory in Bucks history.
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The constant in both wins has been their defense coming together at the right time as they have smothered the Heat in the first two games of the series.
Yes, that does take in mind the fact that Heat hit 20 threes in Game 1 and coupled with the fact that the Bucks shot 5-for-31 from that range, the disparity was quite the feat in light of the Bucks’ gutsy victory.
However, the same has proven true of how Milwaukee has completely walled off the Heat from operating inside the arc and trying to gain consistent steam in their overall attack. Game 1 saw the Bucks allow 24 paint points to the Heat, which matches the least they’ve allowed in a game all season and that number trickled up to 44 for Game 2, per NBA.com/stats.
Furthermore, the Heat are shooting 39.8 percent on their attempts all taken inside the arc.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ defense has leveled up when facing the Miami Heat
There’s been the ways the Bucks have both limited and even shut down the likes of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo through the first two games of the series. Even as Goran Dragic has sprung into action to start this series, the Heat’s offensive engine has stalled out too many times as a result of the swarming defensive pressure Milwaukee has sent their way.
Sequences like the following have been common. Just look at how Jimmy Butler is swallowed up within the Bucks’ transition defense as Lopez blocks off the basket from the Heat’s All-Star wing in spite of multiple efforts on Butler’s part.
Of course, Lopez has much to do with how the Bucks’ defense has been smothering the Heat as The Step Back’s Jackson Frank noted with the following numbers.
When Brook Lopez is on the floor, the Heat's eFG% is 10.3 points worse, they're shooting 8.4% fewer of their shots at the rim and shooting 9.3% worse at the rim in this series.
— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) May 25, 2021
With Lopez manning the middle and the Bucks’ defense moving around on a string to bother Miami all over the floor, the Heat’s drive-and-kick attack has been neutralized. So far this series, Miami is 9-for-26 from the field (34.6 percent) on their 95 total driving attempts as well as nine assists and seven turnovers.
The combination of Lopez’s presence defending the paint and the cadre of Bucks perimeter defenders ramping up the pressure has bogged down the Heat’s offense in ways that are reminiscent to how Miami shut down the Bucks last year.
They’re doing all of this while reinventing their defense and incorporating the new stylistic changes they’ve progressively made this season to improve upon their base defense. That doesn’t mean we won’t see Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer lean further into switching or anything like that, but for this series, they haven’t needed to go that aggressive into their defensive schemes to slow down the Heat.
It’s entirely possible that could change over the course of the series, especially as it shifts over to Miami and American Airlines Arena. One thing is for certain, though, and that’s the Bucks’ defense has imposed their will on the Heat and it’s tilted the direction of this series in their favor so far.