Miami (tca/dpa) – A season after the Miami Heat appeared on the verge of something special, it is now possible that the roster never will look the same.
Capitulating to the Milwaukee Bucks in four games to end their postseason without a victory, the Heat left AmericanAirlines Arena after Saturday’s 120-103 loss already with change in the air.
The next time they play in the facility, it will be known as FTX Arena.
Who will be playing in home colors certainly appears in question, beyond franchise mainstays Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
Both tried to do their part Saturday, with Butler closing with 12 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds, and Adebayo with 20 points and 14 rebounds, but a 24-4 third-quarter Milwaukee blitz over a 4:57 span proved to be too much.
In the end, the Heat proved unable to recapture the magic from last season’s run to within two victories of a championship at the pandemic quarantine bubble at Disney World.
Back in the real world, the challenge with this roster proved too daunting, from the slippage to a No. 6 regular-season seed to Saturday’s inability to keep up with Milwaukee on an afternoon when the Bucks got 20 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds from Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Milwaukee now moves on to face the winner of the Brooklyn Nets-Boston Celtics series that Brooklyn leads 2-1.
For the Heat, there also were 18 points from Tyler Herro and 14 from Kendrick Nunn, but simply not enough to keep pace with a team clearly at a higher level.
———
Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday’s game:
1. Closing time: After going up 12 early and then falling behind by 12 in the third, the Heat went into the fourth quarter down 91-85.
The Heat moved within five 16 seconds into the fourth, but with 10:10 left a Bobby Portis 3-pointer pushed the Bucks’ lead to 98-88
The Bucks then pulled away from there.
2. Board silly: The Heat’s rebounding struggles continued to the bitter end of the series, this time by a 56-40 count.
While Milwaukee’s power rotation took care of its business, the Heat did not get a single rebound from starting power forward Trevor Ariza in his 20 minutes.
Bucks center Brook Lopez again was dominant in the paint, closing with 25 points and eight rebounds.
The Bucks closed the series outrebounding the Heat by an average of 65.3 to 49.3.
3. Passive aggressive: Butler did not attempt his third shot until 4:32 remained in the first half.
Even with taking measure of the game, he still was up to 10 points, eight assists and five rebounds by the intermission. The eight assists were one off Dwyane Wade’s franchise playoff record for first-half assists, set in a 2005 game against the Washington Wizards.
Still, it was a continuation of the series’ pattern of Butler unable to make a statement in the scoring column. He finished the series third on the team in scoring, at 14.5 pointer per game, on .297 shooting.
4. Middle ground: After opening 1 of 4 amid struggles with his midrange shot that included passing up several open looks, Adebayo stepped forward in the second period to help fuel that Heat to a 12-point lead that was tempered to a 64-57 advantage at the intermission.
Working to the Heat’s advantage at that stage was the both Lopez and Antetokounmpo each were called for three first-half fouls.
5. End game?: After appearing in only one regular-season game, Heat captain Udonis Haslem went without a playoff appearance, just as he did during last season’s Heat run to the NBA Finals.
Haslem, who turns 41 on June 9, took over one third-quarter huddle during the Bucks’ 24-4 run, tossing the chair that was set out for coach Erik Spoelstra, sending the protective seat cover flying.
By Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
