This is what we all expected — a four-game sweep by a Heat team that was just vastly superior to a Bucks team that on top of everything else stumbled into the playoffs.
Four games, all decided by double digits and never in doubt at the end, and that continued Sunday with the Heat knocking off the Bucks 88-77.
With the win the Heat sweep 4-0 and now get almost a week off. They will face the winner of the Bulls vs. Nets (Chicago leads series 3-1) but the earliest the second round series will start is next Saturday.
That week off could help Dwyane Wade, who is still battling a bruised knee. He warmed up for 20 minutes before Game 4 but never played in the game. Ray Allen started for him, scored 16 points on 10 shots, spaced the floor and generally played well.
Regardless of who suited up for Miami, this game followed the pattern of the first three. The Bucks played hard in this series and they were not going to roll over, they fought hard in this game. Their problem was they had no margin for error against the Heat and they kept making mistakes, and turning the ball over.
The game was 69-67 Miami when Monta Ellis missed the and-one free throw to make it a one point game. Then next time down the Bucks forced a miss and Mike Dunleavy pulled down the rebound, but Mario Chalmers stripped him and a couple passes later it became an Allen three. Next trip down Chalmers hit a three of his own and the Heat were off on a 17-3 run that decided the game.
This felt like a lot of other games where the Heat were without Wade this year — LeBron James had 30 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and was the best player on the floor. Udonis Haslem stepped up with 13 points overall, 9 in the third quarter.
The Bucks have a lot of questions to answer this summer. It starts with whether or not they bring interim coach Jim Boylan back (don’t bet on it). Then they face both Monta Ellis and J.J. Redick as unrestricted free agents, and Brandon Jennings as a restricted free agent.
The Bucks are on vacation now and when they come back from it in October they will be a very different team.
The Heat get a week’s vacation before they get back to the work of defending their title.