Miami– The reality is the Milwaukee Bucks accomplished plenty of what they had hoped for Sunday night against the Miami Heat:Brandon Jennings was walking the walk after his uberconfident pregame talk. Monta Ellis was erasing his regular season scoring struggles in the matchup. And a surprisingly aggressive defense was forcing a barrage of early turnovers.
The depressing part? It didn’t matter. Not when LeBron James is motoring to a highly efficient 27 points on 9-of-11 shooting, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Not when Chris Bosh is converting three 3-pointers. Not when Chris Andersen is standing Birdman tall against the Bucks’ length.
No, not everything in this 110-87 victory in the opener of this best-of-seven first-round series against the Bucks at AmericanAirlines Arena went according to form for the Heat. Except the result. “We know we can pay a better game,” James said. “We didn’t play our best ball.”
Despite unexpected pushback from the Bucks, perhaps more than some might have anticipated, the Heat were able to take a 1-0 lead heading into Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. Game 2, before the series heads to Milwaukee for the following two games.
While James was sublime, Bosh was taking his game to unexpected lengths. “I think what really opened up everybody was C.B.,” James said of Bosh. Through it all, the Heat still saw the Bucks get the type of backcourt productivity that figures to be Milwaukee’s only way to make this series competitive. “I thought we played well enough in stretches,” Bucks coach Jim Boylan said. “But we just have to figure out how to sustain that.”
And, of course, figure out James. “He really let the game come to him, facilitated quite a bit for us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
“It was a very mature high-IQ game.”
James’ 9-of-11 shooting was his best playoff percentage (.818).
“Obviously, incredibly efficient,” Boylan said. “When you have a game like that, what can you do?” Not much, Heat teammate Shane Battier said.
“He doesn’t have to force anything,” he said. “And he can still control the game.” Jennings, who several times in recent days forecast the Bucks winning in six games, closed with 26 points. Perhaps more meaningful were the 22 points of backcourt partner Monta Ellis, who had averaged 9.5 in the four-game season series. But unlike James, what the Bucks guards didn’t do was get their teammates involved, the duo closing with five total assists.
That had Bucks power players Larry Sanders and Ersan Ilyasova as non-factors. Ilyasova closed with two points on 1-of-7 shooting, Sanders with six points, playing without a trademark blocked shot in his 19 foul-filled minutes.
“I think we do need to figure out a way to get something and not rely so heavily on those guys,” Boylan said. By contrast, beyond James’ scoring and Bosh’s 15-point effort fueled by three 3-pointers, the Heat also got 20 points from Ray Allen, 16 from Dwyane Wade and 10 from Andersen.
“When Ray gets 20 and Chris Andersen coming in with his hustle and gets those tipins,” Boylan said, “that’s part of the reason in that third quarter why we were struggling.” The Bucks forced 19 Heat turnovers that led to 22 Milwaukee points.
“They do a great job of deflecting basketballs, of getting into the passing lane,” Spoelstra said. The Heat pushed to a 15-point lead early in the third quarter, their largest to that stage, but the Bucks cut it to 11 when Jennings converted a four-point play, fouled by Battier on a kick-out 3-pointer.
The Bucks then closed within eight, but the Heat stole the Bucks’ spirit when Allen followed with a 3-pointer off an inbounds pass with 1.1 seconds to play on the shot clock. After ensuing inspired play from Andersen, the Heat were able to take an 80-65 lead into the fourth quarter. With Jennings scoring 18 points in the first half, Milwaukee went into the intermission with 52-45.
The Heat committed 11 firsthalf turnovers, which helped Milwaukee take 49 first-half shots to only 32 by the Heat. It was the highest shot total against the Heat in the first half of a playoff game in seven years.
The Heat, though, closed with an unexpected 46-31 rebounding advantage. “We have a very young team,” Boylan said, “so tonight’s experience was great for us.”
While Spoelstra did not change his starting lineup, with Udonis Haslem continuing to open at power forward, the Heat did change their approach with their power game, with Bosh stepping out to his a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers.
The Heat ended the regular season on an eight-game winning streak, even while resting several of the team’s top players.
The Bucks, who closed with injury issues, lost 12 of their final 16 games during the regular season.
- Ira Winderman, MCT Campus