Antetokounmpo watch continues
Preparing for dual realities in possible close-out Game 5
The Miami Heat spent Monday preparing for two opponents, and it wasn’t a case of looking past this best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal NBA playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks.
With Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo dealing with a sprained right ankle and still in a walking boot Monday, listed as questionable, the Heat returned to practice juggling dual defensive philosophies — the defensive wall to stop Antetokounmpo that proved so effective in the series’ first three games, and the perimeter-based defensive approach that proved so ineffective inGame4 Sunday after Antetokounmpo went out early in the second quarter.
“They have a lot of different guys that can attack you and put pressure on your defense off the dribble,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Monday’s practice at Disney World, with his team’s series lead reduced to 3-1. “And they have shooting. We just came off a series where that whole series was based on that.”
Indeed, forward Andre Iguodala noted if the Bucks resume with the four-guard approach that won Sunday’s Game 4, then the Heat have to revert to what worked in the opening-round 4-0 sweep of the Indiana Pacers.
“It had kind of an Indiana feel to it,” he said. “They had four guys on the perimeter ready to attack at all times.”
As for the Bucks’ approach with Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee is in a delicate position, with the presumptive 2020 NBA Most Valuable Player eligible for a maximum-scale contract extension this offseason.
As a means of comparison, the Golden State Warriors played Kevin Durant through injury in the 2019 NBA Finals and then lost him to the Brooklyn Nets in free agency that summer, and, before that, Kawhi Leonard seemingly took umbrage with the San Antonio Spurs’ injury approach and pushed for a trade.
“Looking at everything, assessing everything together,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said Monday, with Antetokounmpo not available to the media. “We’ll continue to make decisions that protect and keep Giannis in a position where he’s healthy and has a long, long, healthy career and is still available to us and giving us what he can.”
An te tokou nm po was with the Bucks at Monday’s practice, on a court adjacent to where the Heat worked, but as Budenholzer said, “On the court, we literally just walked through a couple of defensive sets, a couple of offensive things, just kind of stationary in the halfcourt. Hewas able to participate in that, but I think it wasn’t much. So don’t read too much into that.”
The teams meet Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Wide World of Sports complex.
“Giannis is, like we’ve said, getting treatment around the clock and doing everything he can to make himself available,” Budenholzer said.
The Bucks went 5-5 in Antetokounmpo’s absence this season, winning their first five without him and losing the next five. But they also played their best basketball of the series upon his Sunday exit.
“Playoffs are games of adjustments and counters to counters ,” Iguodala said. “They did a good job of being able to adjust when their main guy went down.”
So the Heat again will be prepared for Plan A, this time knowing Plan B can’t come off looking like some type of secondary approach.
“We’ll prepare for him to be there,” Spoelstra said, “and prepare for him if he’s not.”
Injury list Still hope
The Heat put out a robust injury report for today’s game:
■ Jae Crowder (questionable), sprained left ankle.
■ Tyler Herro (questionable), bruised right hip.
■ Kelly Olynyk (questionable), bruised right knee.
■ Chris Silva (out), stress fracture of left pubic bone.
Antetokounmpo was the lone player on the Bucks’ injury list. The Bucks are attempting to become the first team to overcome an 0-3 deficit in an NBA playoff series, but also the first attempting to do it in a quarantine bubble, in the absence of fans, in a neutral setting.
That led Bucks guard Wesley Matthews to note Monday, “2020’s been a hell of year so far. Anything can happen.”
The Heat’s Iguodala then alluded to the Denver Nuggets overcoming a 3-1 deficit to the Utah Jazz in the previous round.
“We’ve seen it here inthe bubble already,” he said of a series reversal.