After taking a 2-0 lead over the Miami Heat to open up their first round series, the Milwaukee Bucks are headed into enemy territory.
First, the Bucks grinded out a 109-107 overtime victory in Game 1 and then snatched a 132-98 victory in Game 2 and asserted their dominance over the Heat in ways that were reminiscent to last year’s series. Only this time, the shoe is on the other foot for the reigning Eastern Conference champions.
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There’s no question that the Bucks feel good about heading to Miami up 2-0 against the team that eliminated them from last year’s playoffs. But all the hard work is far from being over as the Bucks still have a job to do in terms of maintaining their dominant start to the series.
So without further ado, let’s look at three keys for the Milwaukee Bucks to end their first round series while on the road against the Miami Heat.
The Milwaukee Bucks must take out the home crowd while on the road vs. the Heat
Home court advantage is real and it’s definitely shown over the start of this series while in Milwaukee.
Game 2 proved as the Bucks set the stage for their shooting surge from 3-point range, all of which got the crowd into the game very early and maintained that barrage all game long. That momentum and crowd noise is crucial to keeping Miami from mounting any sort of come back.
Due to the circumstances that led to the NBA finishing out last season in the bubble, we didn’t get to see the impact of having home-court advantage, which would have greatly benefited the Bucks. And the Heat thrived in playing in a neutral environment as they carved out their path towards their NBA Finals bid.
This season, though, has restored home-court advantage and the Bucks have quickly taken advantage. If the Bucks can come out hot like they did on Monday and take the energy out of a full capacity crowd at American Airlines Arena early in the game, it could be instrumental to the Bucks chances of going up 3-0 in this series on Thursday night.