The Miami Heat played even better than I thought they would in their 115-104 Game 1 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Jimmy Butler was the best player on the floor and he showcased his skills by scoring a playoff career-high 40 points while also chasing Milwaukee’s best players around the floor on the other end. Still, it was a coaching win for Erik Spoelstra and his staff. They did a remarkable job on Giannis Antetokounmpo, holding him to just 18 points on only 12 shots from the floor.
Spo rotated his defense masterfully and built walls around the Greek Freak. Giannis looked out of sorts all night and he was nowhere near as aggressive as he usually plays. The Bucks certainly have to go back to the drawing board and find better ways to break down the Heat D.
Brook Lopez shooting six three-pointers isn’t going to cut it.[[ad:athena]]
So now what?
Every game is different and it would be foolish to overreact to just one game. But this is not your average bounce back spot for Milwaukee. In a traditional postseason, I would be all over the inevitable Bucks blitz in the second game. Yet when you remove home court advantage, the energy in the building from fans and add in the weirdness of this NBA bubble, I’ve come to expect the unexpected. After all, that “bounce back spot” didn’t work for the Raptors yesterday.
I believe the Heat are just the better team around the rim. They’re better at driving to the rim (i.e. Butler and Goran Dragic) on offense, their bigs are better scorers and they have the size and length to negate drives and tries at their own basket.
Bam Adebayo was an absolute monster in the opener. He’s the type of player that doesn’t even have to score to make an impact. Bam vacuumed up 17 rebounds and he was a nightmare for Milwaukee when they tried to get their offense going off pick and roll. The former Kentucky Wildcat is certainly the biggest X-factor in the series.
All in all, until I see Milwaukee solve this Miami defense, I think these games are going to be super tight for most of the series. The market disagrees with me, but that’s just more points in my pocket.
The Bucks were bet up from -4 to -5 and PointsBet is now dealing Milwaukee -5.5. Give me the points with what I believe is the deeper team with the better game plan and the best player on the floor.
Play on the Heat +5.5.
