Miami is going to make this series tough on the Bucks offense
Over course, in any game you can look back to a few possessions and say a team could have done better, but in this loss, the Miami Heat played as well as they possibly could defensively. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday scored a combined 73 points, which the Heat could probably cut down in Game 2, but they took Donte DiVincenzo, Bobby Portis and others out of the equation for Milwaukee.
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Brook Lopez was great in Game 1, as he scored 18 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, but over the course of the series, it is hard to imagine that the veteran center will continue to have performances like he did in Game 1.
The Heat forced 17 Bucks’ turnovers in this game, which was way over their season average of 13.4 turnovers per game during the regular season. If Miami is to make this series competitive and potentially even it up in Game 2, then they are going to have to play just as intense defense and rotate a little better when Giannis is driving to the basket.
He is going to get his points one way or another because he is a 2x MVP and one of the best players in the NBA, but there were plenty of times in Game 1 where the Heat stopped what they were doing defensively because Giannis was already close to the rim.
If they can remain aggressive and force Giannis to beat them at the free-throw line, like they started doing late in the game, then they will have a very good chance to pull off the upset in Game 2.