The NBA regular season may be over but the playoffs still offer plenty of room for an all-time hot take, as was the case during Game 1 between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat on Sunday.
While the playoffs offer an opportunity to showcase the league’s best, it also opens the door for some heartbreaking moments, which both Miami and Milwaukee experienced the hard way.
The Bucks, who finished atop the Eastern Conference after the regular season, failed to withstand the early absence of star Giannis Antetokounmpo. The 28-year-old suffered a costly lower back contusion in the first quarter, limiting Antetokounmpo to just 11 minutes of play before being ruled out for the contest. Then in the second quarter, the Heat suffered the loss of guard Tyler Herro, who suffered two broken fingers when attacking a loose ball.
No question both losses could impact each respective team’s playoff chances moving forward, however, there’s a discrepancy between the two, right? Well, not according to former player-turned-analyst Reggie Miller.
Miller, who served as an analyst during the live TNT broadcast, shared his questionable belief that Herro is a bigger loss to the Heat than Antetokounmpo is to the Bucks, according to Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal.
There’s no room for debate on the absurdity of that stance.
Herro, while serviceable, doesn’t provide the Heat with half of what Antetokounmpo, a prime MVP candidate and NBA Finals champion, supplies the Bucks with on a night-to-night basis. Just take Game 1 for example. During Miami’s 130-117 victory over Milwaukee, the Heat, per usual, were led by Jimmy Butler (35 points). Then off the bench, Kevin Love easily filled the void left by Herro, netting 4-of-7 3-point attempts and finishing with 18 points.
Meanwhile, the Bucks struggled. Khris Middleton, as expected, substituted for Antetokounmpo as Milwaukee’s No. 1, but didn’t do so efficiently. Milwaukee was outscored in the paint, 62-46, failing to put together anything beyond a two-point lead. Coupled with a subpar outside shooting performance — 11-for-45 — and the Bucks ran into a recipe for disaster, putting them in a complex position.
Antetokounmpo’s absence poses a storm too strong for the Bucks to navigate, while in comparison, Herro’s nonattendance — 4-to-6 weeks, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports — provides the Heat with a minor inconvenience.
The Bucks, pending an update on Antetokounmpo before Game 2, are cornered with the possibility of now falling into an even bigger hole.
