Good Stat, Bad Stat: Numbers from the Bucks’ Game 5 loss to Heat

The Miami Heat eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks from the 2023 NBA playoffs with a 128-126 overtime win on Wednesday night in Milwaukee. The eight-seeded Heat advanced to the next round to play the New York Knicks, while the top-seeded Bucks saw their season end.

Here are several stats, good and bad, that helped define that Game 5 loss by the Bucks.

Good Stat, Bad Stat: Numbers from the Bucks’ Game 5 loss to Heat

Bad Stat: The Bucks won only one playoff game in 2023, the fewest in a playoff season since 2013 when Milwaukee was swept four games to none by the Miami Heat. The Heat went on to win the NBA title that season.

Good Stat: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 38 points and 20 rebounds in the game. It was the fifth playoff game in his career that he grabbed 20 or more rebounds. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 19 games with 20-plus rebounds as a Milwaukee Buck. The other Milwaukee players to grab 20-plus rebounds in a playoff game were Curtis Perry (he did it twice) and Jack Sikma. This was the second time in Giannis’ career that he had 38 points and 20 rebounds in a playoff game (he had 44 points and 20 rebounds in a playoff game on May 15, 2022, versus Boston).

Bad Stat: Jimmy Butler had 42 points. He now has three career playoff games with 40+ points against the Bucks, the most by any player versus Milwaukee in the playoffs, per Stathead (Subscription required).

Good Stat: Khris Middleton had 33 points for the Bucks to go along with Giannis’ 38. It was the first time since June 27, 2021, that two Bucks players had 30-plus points in the same playoff game. In that contest, Giannis had 33 points, and Middleton had 38. It was the sixth time in Bucks’ history that teammates scored 30-plus points in the same playoff contest.

Bad Stat: The Bucks as a team only had one block in Game 5. The team has now lost 12 of their last 14 playoff games when they have one or no blocks in the game.

Bad Stat: Miami had five bench players combine to score 21 points off the bench in Game 5. The Bucks had two bench players score (Wesley Matthews had six, while Pat Connaughton had seven) for 13 points. The Heat bench outscored the Bucks’ bench in four of the five games and outscored the Bucks in bench points 195-141 for the series.

Bad Stat: Milwaukee had only one home win in the playoffs. That’s the fewest home playoff wins in a post-season since 2016-17 when they had only one home win in the playoffs.

Bad Stat: Giannis was 10-for-23 in free throws in the game, a .435 percentage. The Bucks are 8-9 in playoff games when Giannis shoots under .500 in free throws in a playoff game. The 23 free throws were a career playoff high for Giannis; the 13 misses were also a career-high in the playoffs. The 13 missed free throws were also the most free throws Giannis has missed in any NBA game (regular season or playoffs) in his career.

Bad Stat: Bam Adebayo had a triple-double for the Heat with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. It was only the 11th playoff triple-double by an opposing player versus the Bucks. The last player with a triple-double in the playoffs versus the Bucks was Kevin Durant on June 15, 2021.

Bad Stat: Milwaukee has had 17 seasons with 50 or more wins (they won 58 games this season). The one playoff win this year is the fewest playoff wins for a Milwaukee team that won 50 or more games in the regular season.

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