The Miami Heat have been a trendy pick to knock off the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the NBA playoffs.
Well, so far, so good. The Heat won Game 1, 115-104, on Monday, as Jimmy Butler scored a game-high 40 points.
One-game blip for the Bucks? Former NBA player Dahntay Jones says no.
“I think Miami is going to win this series,” Jones told JR SportBrief. “They have more leadership. I think they have the better coach of the two. Jimmy Butler is the ultimate leader and the ultimate aggressor in this series. I think they have answers for Giannis, and if Giannis can’t create offense for the rest of those guys, Milwaukee tends to struggle. I think they can build the same type of wall that Toronto did – or usually does – against Giannis, and I think he’s going to struggle.”
Antetokounmpo, who averaged 30.6 points against Orlando in the first round, was limited to 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor in Game 1. He also shot just 4-of-12 from the foul line. Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton tried to pick up the slack, combining for 52 points on 8-of-14 shooting from three-point range, but it wasn’t enough.
The Heat, meanwhile, are 5-0 in the playoffs.
“[It’s] a unique matchup . . . where you have a gritty Miami Heat team that can guard a bunch of positions and they come out and play extremely hard,” Jones said. “You have some championship DNA with Andre Iguodala and Erik Spoelstra, so those guys know how to win and grind out games.”
The Bucks scored 40 points in the first quarter but just 23 in the second, 23 in the third and 18 in the fourth. The Heat outscored the Bucks 86-64 over the final three quarters.
“Jimmy Butler just had some great quotes in the media, saying how he loves where he is and he was built to be in Miami,” Jones said. “So you have a guy that is settled, at home, ready to compete, leading a bunch of young guys who are energetic and listening to all the words coming out of his mouth and ready to go out there and compete every night. I think it’s a unique matchup where the Miami Heat could pull this off.”
Game 2 is Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. ET.