Bucks battle back without Giannis
Reigning MVP exits, but No. 1 seed stays alive
Giannis Antetokounmpo was waiting in the locker room for his teammates Sunday, standing on his bad right ankle to greet every one of them.
His day ended early.
His season isn’t over yet.
Khris Middleton scored 36 points, including a big 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds left in overtime, and the Bucks avoided a sweep by beating the Heat 118-115 in overtime of Game 4 of the teams’ Eastern Conference semifinal series Sunday at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
The eighth-seeded Heat still lead 3-1, but the top-seeded Bucks — the best team in the regular season — are still alive, even after Antetokounmpo left early in the second quarter with an aggravation of his sprained right ankle.
“Khris is very unique,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He’s got a way about him. He wanted to play. He asked to stay in the game.”
As if there was any other option. Middleton’s season-high before Sunday was 40 minutes; he logged 48 in Game 4, taking over with Antetokounmpo watching from the locker room.
“Just keep fighting,” said Middleton, who also had eight rebounds and eight assists.
Bam Adebayo had 26 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists for the Heat. Duncan Robinson scored 20 points, Jae Crowder had 18 and Goran Dragic and Jimmy Butler each finished with 17 for the Heat.
The Heat had an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter, promptly allowed the Bucks to score the next 12, and now needs to come back
Tuesday to try to finish the series off.
Antetokounmpo scored 19 points for the Bucks in only 11 minutes, while Brook Lopez and Eric Bledsoe each had 14 in the victory. George Hill added 12.
The Heat managed only two points in the first 4:30 of OT, got within one on a 3-pointer from Tyler Herro, but Middleton delivered the biggest shot of the night to make it 116-112.
Herro made another 3-pointer with 3.0 seconds left, but Middleton sealed it with a pair of free throws.
Antetokounmpo had 19 of the Bucks’ first 30 points, shooting 8for-10 from the floor. But in an instant, everything changed for the Bucks.
Antetokounmpo aggravated his sprained right ankle with 10:18 left in the second quarter, rolling it inward — just as he did in Game 3 on Friday — as he tried to drive past the Heat’s Andre Iguodala. He tumbled to the court, grabbing the ankle and screaming in pain.
He took the free throws; without doing that, he wouldn’t have been permitted to return. But at halftime, the Bucks delivered the word that he wouldn’t be back.
So, his game was over.
The Bucks’ season wasn’t.
The Bucks said Antetokounmpo would get plenty of treatment before a decision is made about his availability for Tuesday.
Jokic’s status up in air: Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is questionable for Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series against the second-seeded Clippers with a sprained right wrist.
Jokic had 26 points and 18 rebounds in the third-seeded Nuggets’ Game 2 win Saturday night that evened the series at 1-1.
Game 3 is Monday night.