Playoff film study: Without Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez and Bucks play big

Despite being led by the best scorer of the last 20 years, the Milwaukee Bucks are an offensive team. In the regular season, only two teams – the Golden State Warriors (41.2%) and the Dallas Mavericks (41.8%) – shot a lower percentage than the Bucks (42.4%). And even though he missed 19 games, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored nearly twice as many points (1,182) as any of his teammates.

But without Antetokounmpo in Wednesday’s first-round matchup against the Miami Heat, the Bucks dominated the scoring early, scoring 81 points in the first half and winning the series 138-122.

The Bucks finished 25-49 (51%) from 3-point range, 25 points tied for the NBA’s all-time playoff record. But in that 81-point first half, the Bucks made 30 (55%) of their 55 shots on goal, and Brook Lopez scored more than twice as many points (18, he finished with 24) in the paint. full game 1 (8).

Here’s a quick look at how it happened.

1. Big vs. not so big

As in the beginning of Game 1, the Heat started with 6-foot Max Strus guarded by 7-foot Lopez. And the big man took advantage of his team’s very first possession when he fell on Strus as the Bucks’ first play stalled:

Two possessions later, the Strus changed the ball curtain, leaving 6-footer Gabe Vincent for Lopez. The Bucks couldn’t get him the ball initially, but when Khris Middleton missed a drive, Lopez had a relatively easy recovery.

(The Heat abandoned the Strus-on-Lopez plan in the second half.)

2. Out of the post office and back

Lopez had just eight field goals in Game 1, while Bobby Portis had 14, bringing up smaller defenders and getting some pretty easy jump hooks in. Midway through the first quarter of Game 2, Portis denied Kyle Lowry’s 3-pointer and quickly moved up the floor to establish a position against the 6-foot guard:

The Heat doubled, Portis got rid of the ball and the Bucks threw it to Joe Ingles in the opposite corner. When Ingles beat Jimmy Butler in the final game, Portis was the beneficiary:

3. Miami breakdown

Two possessions later, Grayson Allen set a “pistol” screen on Jrue Holiday. The Strus switched it, but allowed Holiday to get to the baseline, where Kevin Love brought in help from Lopez. Butler’s job was probably to rush and get in front of Lopez, but he didn’t get there fast enough, and Lopez got an easy dunk:

On the surface, the results of the first two series look like Samples A and B for the “it’s a make-or-miss league” argument, and the Bucks’ 25 three-pointers on Wednesday tied a playoff record. But they clearly tried to play bigger early in Game 2, and their 52 points in the paint were their third-most in 20 games without Antetokounmpo this season.

Regardless of whether Antetokounmpo is available for Game 3 in Miami on Saturday (7:30 ET, ESPN), the Heat need to defend better … both inside and outside.

John Schuhmann is a senior statistical analyst for NBA.com. You can email him here, search his archives here andfollow him on Twitter.

The views of this page do not necessarily reflect those of the NBA, its clubs or Warner Bros. Insights from Discovery.