The Heat squandered an opportunity to sweep the No. 1 seeded Bucks on Sunday, and we’ll have to wait for word on Giannis Antetokounmpo (ankle). The Bucks have been one of the shadiest teams with injuries for about a decade, so we’re likely not going to get much here until Giannis warms up. We also will see if the Lakers go small later today with JaVale McGee (ankle) questionable, but either way it’ll be a lot of small ball after some success in Game 2.
Miami Heat (-4) vs. Milwaukee Bucks, 6:30 pm ET
Team Totals: Heat 111.3, Bucks 107.3
Injury News: Giannis Antetokounmpo (ankle) is questionable, Kelly Olynyk (knee) is questionable, Jae Crowder (ankle) is questionable, Tyler Herro (hip) is questionable, and Chris Silva (pubic bone) is out.
Heat Expected Starters: Goran Dragic, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder, Bam Adebayo
Bucks Expected Starters: Eric Bledsoe, Wesley Matthews, Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez (note: Donte DiVincenzo would likely start for Giannis, if needed)
Heat Rotation Notes: Spo almost went to an seven-man rotation in the second half with just 3.6 minutes of Kelly Olynyk (Tyler Herro 17.2, Andre Iguodala 8.0), Bam at 20.8 in the second half and Duncan was at 19.9.
Bucks Rotation Notes: Middleton played 23.9 minutes in the second half and full OT frame, Donte DiVincenzo saw 4.3 OT minutes (Hill 5.0, Brook 4.9, Bledsoe 3.3, Wes 2.5), Donte started the second half for Giannis.
Spo Quotes: He said Tyler Herro’s game “continues to grow and we’ll continue to ask more of him on both sides of the floor.” (Side note: This play Spo drew up for Herro was a piece of art.)
Bud Quotes: He really talked up Middleton as the offensive centerpiece on Sunday. “I think he sees the court. He reads it. He plays unselfishly. I think there’s a skip pass to (Wesley Matthews) at one point, just on an overload, and he sees it. Makes great passes. He’s a 6-foot-8 guy that can shoot, score, pass. That’s what you need. And he stepped up for us big.”
*Coach Mike Budenholzer said Giannis is going to “do everything he can to make himself available, and we’ll just see how the next 30 hours go” with his treatment. Giannis left the arena on Sunday with a walking boot, and we’re unlikely to get much more info until 90 minutes before the game starts. He’s likely going to be a game-time call after spraining his ankle in back-to-back games. If he can’t go, Middleton, Bledsoe, Hill and Donte figure to benefit the most.
*As mentioned above, Middleton turned into a total alpha after his 36/8/8 line on Sunday. He’s routinely seen his output increase without Giannis, but Bledsoe gets a bigger boost with on/off Giannis splits. However, Middleton had 108 touches in Game 4, a huge increase from the 65.6 he had in the previous eight games (playing helped a bit, but still a huge bump). Even if Giannis plays, he’s going to have to feast.
*Besides the obvious bangin’ box score at 26/12/8, Bam continues to impact the game with screens, putting up 16 screen-assists points in Game 4. In the last two games, he’s 14-of-16 in the paint with seven dunks. So many fantastic entry passes as a roll man or a cutter have really set him up for offensive success.
*Donte DiVincenzo made a really big impact and got some praise from teammates. Eric Bledsoe said Donte “did an amazing job” and Donte said that Middleton built him back up and took him “to another level confidence-wise.”
Matchup Helps: Khris Middleton, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe, Brook Lopez
Matchup Hurts: Kelly Olynyk
Los Angeles Lakers (-5) vs. Houston Rockets, 9:00 pm ET
Team Totals: Lakers 113.8, Rockets 108.8
Injury News: JaVale McGee (ankle) is questionable, Anthony Davis (finger) is probable, LeBron James (groin) is probable and Dion Waiters (groin) is doubtful.
Lakers Expected Starters: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, JaVale McGee
Rockets Expected Starters: Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Eric Gordon, Robert Covington, P.J. Tucker
Lakers Rotation Notes: Alex Caruso, Rajon Rondo, Danny Green, LeBron and AD closed, JaVale hurt in the early third, Markieff Morris two 10-11 minute stints in the middle of each half (almost closed, Rondo subbed), Dwight Howard was a DNP-CD even with the JaVale injury.
Rockets Rotation Notes: No Austin Rivers in the second half, no Ben McLemore in the first half, a little Westbrook foul trouble.
Vogel Quotes: He said he wanted to stay with the Markieff at the five group more in the second half, Vogel said Rondo “wreaked havoc defensively” and it was a “great Rondo performance.”
D’Antoni Quotes: He said he was worried about the lack of energy and thought the Lakers were more desperate for a win than the Rockets were. He said Danuel House is “blossoming into one of the better players in the league,” and the Rockets “didn’t load up behind [LeBron] well enough.”
*LeBron crushed in transition at 10 fastbreak points, he had a 31.1 usage rate as his second-highest usage rate in the playoffs, and his touch time per minute was also up in Game 2. LeBron was also perfect on his drives at 11 points off 14 drives after just three points off drives in Game 1. He was 7-of-8 at the rim and drew three shooting fouls at the rim, so it was elite aggressive ‘Bron in G2. That should continue and he mentioned he wasn’t quite ready for Game 1. “Sometimes you need one game to be able to understand the speed they play with, and I think we adjusted from Game 1 to Game 2,” he said. “They’re an extremely fast team. Everyone keeps talking about small-ball, but their speed and activity defensively and offensively is something that can catch you off guard, like in a Game 1 situation. We got a feel for that.”
*In Game 1, AD had one of his lowest percentage on assisted bucket games in the last three seasons, but LeBron assisted him four times in Game 2, and he was assisted 46.7% of the time in Game 2 (30.0 in Game 1, Game 2 still below average). AD also played 28 minutes at the five in Game 2 (22 in Game 1), and he’s always smashed as a five man per minute, and he knows his positioning is valuable on offense. “I’m trying to stay as close to the basket as possible,” he said after Game 2.
*Russell Westbrook was bad with his 4-of-15 shooting line (1-of-7 from three) and suggested he wasn’t quite ready in Game 2. “Right now I’m just running around. I gotta look at the film and try to figure out how to be effective,” he said. Harden has a higher net rating without Westbrook (+4.5) than with him (0.0) in this series. Westbrook is 0-of-7 on catch-and-shoot shots in this series, and he’s just 8-of-28 with under 15 seconds on the shot clock. The good news is that Westbrook knows he’s struggling, and he and Harden spent some time together on Sunday night trying to figure out how to get back on track.
*The Lakers did a much better job pressuring Harden, and pressuring him earlier before he got over halfcourt. In the second half, when the Rockets made a run, their offense wasn’t as frenetic, and Harden also mentioned that after the game. “They caught us off guard, but I think later in the game, we did a pretty good job of it,” Harden said. “We just weren’t aggressive enough, and we didn’t attack their zone enough,” he said. The Rockets continue to get torched when Harden is off the court, putting up a -18.7 net rating in the 47 minutes with Eric Gordon and Westbrook. Harden’s minutes might have to be extended a little more (+12.1 with all three in 81 minutes).
Matchup Helps: LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Alex Caruso, Danny Green, Rajon Rondo
Matchup Hurts: Austin Rivers, Russell Westbrook, Dwight Howard
