MILWAUKEE — On a night Giannis Antetokounmpo played just 11 minutes before exiting the game with a back contusion, former Marquette star Jimmy Butler scored a game-high 35-points as the hot-shooting Miami Heat stole home court advantage away from the Milwaukee Bucks with a 130-117 win in Game One of their best-of-seven opening round playoff series at Fiserv Forum.
Khris Middleton led the Bucks with 33 and Bobby Portis added 21 on a night the Bucks shot just 24.4% from three. The Heat, meanwhile, had their best 3-point shooting night of the season connecting on 15-25 from behind the arc.
“A significant number of them were well contested,” according to Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer. “We gotta look at it…it’s another area where we gotta be better.”
With 1:46 left in the first quarter, Giannis tumbled to the arena floor after being called for an offensive foul. Giannis immediately checked himself out of the game and retreated to the locker room for the remainder of the quarter.
“He has a back contusion. There was an x-ray that was clear here. We’ll monitor him, see how he does and see how he wakes up [Monday],” Budenholzer said after the game.
After returning to the floor with 9:56 left in the second quarter, a hobbled Giannis checked out at the 8:33 mark following a Bucks delay of game, and never returned.
“He just wasn’t moving. Didn’t look comfortable and confident. So, it felt like the right thing,” Budenholzer added. “We have to wait and see what the doctors say. More importantly, what Giannis says. We’ve been incredibly blessed with how resilient he’s been.”
Giannis’ status for game-two on Wednesday is up in the air. With or without Giannis, no member of the Bucks had an answer for Butler, who torched the Bucks defense from the paint and mid-range. Butler scored 14-points in the first quarter as the Heat built a 33-24 lead.
“He got to his spots whenever he wanted,” Middleton said. “He’s crafty with his moves, crafty at drawing fouls, but we gotta do a better job of making it tough on him.”
The Bucks whittled the deficit to one point in the second quarter (43-42) after Holiday collected an offensive rebound and hit a baseline floater, forcing a Heat timeout. Out of the timeout, the Heat scored seven straight points and outscored the Bucks 25-13 over the final 7:24 of the first half to lead 68-55.
In the third quarter, the Bucks climbed the mountain once again trimming a 13-point deficit to three (78-75) with five minutes to play. Once again, the Heat responded with a 24-13 run to take a 102-88 lead into the fourth quarter. The Bucks would get no closer than 8 the rest of the way.
“Even though we felt good and got it within three, pretty sure like each time they called a timeout, or maybe got to the free throw line to slow the game down,” Holiday said following his 16-point, 16-assist night. “It’s Game One. We’re still trying to feel each other out.”
About the only thing that didn’t go right for the Heat was near the end of the first half, when Heat guard Tyler Herro reportedly broke the middle and ring fingers on his right-hand while diving for a loose ball with just under a minute to play.
“He’s not going to play the next game and we’ll just figure it out,” according to Heat Head Coach Eric Spoelstra.
Herro was seen after the game with his hand wrapped and is expected to miss several weeks.
Game Two of the series is scheduled to tip-off at 8:00 Wednesday night in Milwaukee.
