Bucks avenge last year’s loss to Heat

There was no big celebration. No on-court party when the final horn sounded and Milwaukee officially had vanquished last season’s playoff loss to Miami.

Put simply, the Bucks expected to win. And the last four games showed why.

The Bucks-Heat rematch was a mismatch, and Milwaukee became the first team to advance in this postseason with a 120-103 win Saturday to cap a 4-0 firstround sweep. Brook Lopez scored 25 points, Bryn Forbes scored 22 and Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple-double — 20 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds.

“It’s a great moment for us and winning 4-0, beating the team that beat us last year, feels good,” Antetokounmpo said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got a long way to go.”

Bam Adebayo had 20 points and 14 rebounds for Miami, which got outscored by 24 in the second half.

“We tip our hat to the Bucks’ organization,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They were a great team last year and they improved on that. Whether we were a part of that improvement or not, it’s irrelevant. They took their game collectively to another level.”

The Heat became the second team in this playoff format to go from sweeping in the first round one year to being swept in the first round the next. The other team to endure that was the then-New Jersey Nets, who swept New York in 2004 and lost 4-0 to Miami in 2005.

at Portland 115, Denver 95: Norman Powell tied his playoff career high with 29 points and the Trail Blazers evened their series despite Damian Lillard going one for 10 from the field.

Utah 121, at Memphis 111: Donovan Mitchell scored 10 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and the top-seeded Jazz took a 2-1 lead.

Philadelphia 132, at Washington 103: Joel Embiid set a playoff career high with 36 points and the 76ers took a 3-0 lead for the first time since 1985. The Wizards’ Russell Westbrook tied Jason Kidd for third in NBA history with his 11th career postseason triple-double.