Miami went to the NBA Finals as the Eastern Conference's No. 5
seed a year ago. Denver became the first team in NBA history to
rally from a pair of 3-1 deficits on its way to the Western
Conference finals.
The roads were not easy then.
They’re not looking easy now, either.
The Heat and Nuggets will be the first teams in these playoffs
to take the floor and try to avoid 2-0 deficits. Miami trails
Milwaukee 1-0 in their East first-round series, and Denver lost the
home-court advantage to Portland with a Game 1 loss in their West
opener.
The rematches are Monday night, the only two games on the
slate.
“It definitely will be a different game,” Heat coach Erik
Spoelstra said. “I mean, that’s what the playoffs are. There’s
tendencies and strengths for both teams. You’re trying to maximize
your strengths. You’re trying to make it tough on the other
team.”
Milwaukee got a
109-107 overtime win on Saturday, a matchup where neither the
Bucks nor the Heat led by more than eight points. The Bucks won
despite making only five 3-pointers.
“I think the biggest thing for us is we showed we can have those
games and still pull it out,” Bucks guard Donte DiVincenzo
said.
Denver gave up 65 second-half points in Game 1 and fell
123-109, making this the 11th consecutive postseason series in
which the Nuggets have trailed. The last instance of Denver never
being down in a series was the 2009 West semifinals, a 4-1 series
win over Dallas.
“Just to have a consistent game somehow, just to give us hope,”
Denver’s
MVP finalist Nikola Jokic said.
Portland took a 1-0 first-round lead last season as well. It was
the Blazers’ lone postseason win last summer; they then dropped
four straight to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers. And the
Blazers know a 1-0 lead guarantees nothing.
“It’s only going to get harder from here,” Portland guard Damian
Lillard said. “But I think starting out with a win on the road was
great for us.”
Monday’s games:
HEAT AT BUCKS
Milwaukee leads 1-0. Game 2, 7:30 p.m. EDT, TNT.
— NEED TO KNOW: Game 1 was a statistical oddball. Miami
outscored Milwaukee 60-15 from the 3-point line and lost, dropping
NBA teams to 73-2 all-time in games where they make 15 more 3s than
their opponent. Miami’s Jimmy Butler was 4 for 22 from the field;
in the 271 career games where he took at least 15 shots, he never
shot worse. And Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo was 6 for 13 from
the line, bringing back memories of his dreadful issues there
against Miami in last season’s playoffs.
— KEEP AN EYE ON: Miami’s Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. Game 1
was the 48th time that they’ve combined to take 25 or more shots;
their 6-for-25 showing was the worst combined shooting effort in
those 48 games. Have to think that won’t happen again.
— INJURY WATCH: Butler and Antetokounmpo both took some big hits
in Game 1 and it’ll be interesting to see if either has any ill
effects still on Monday night. Butler was shaken up twice after
drives to the basket, while Antetokounmpo needed to put a
compression sleeve on his left arm after a second-half
collision.
— PRESSURE IS ON: Milwaukee. A split of the first two games
wouldn’t be ideal, especially because it would give Miami all the
momentum as the series shifts to South Florida later this week. A
win puts Milwaukee in total control, while a loss would mean the
Bucks have two full days to lament what went wrong before Game 3 on
Thursday night.
TRAIL BLAZERS AT NUGGETS
Portland leads 1-0. Game 2, 10 p.m. EDT, TNT.
— NEED TO KNOW: Damian Lillard’s 34 points in Game 1 were the
most by any Portland player against Denver all season. The Blazers
conceded points to Denver MVP hopeful Nikola Jokic; he had 34 of
them, along with 16 rebounds. But Jokic had just one assist because
of the job Portland did defensively on everyone else. Portland made
15 3s in Game 1 and is now 7-0 all-time against Denver when making
that many.
— KEEP AN EYE ON: The Nuggets’ aggression on offense. Denver has
taken no more than 15 free throws in each of its last four games,
matching the longest such streak in team history. The 3-pointers
are nice and clearly not having Jamal Murray hurts, but the Nuggets
can’t continue to let Lillard (nine in Game 1) take more free
throws than their entire roster (eight). Portland outscored Denver
18-4 from the line in Game 1; the 14-point gap there matched the
one that was on the scoreboard at night’s end.
— INJURY WATCH: Denver’s Will Barton (hamstring) missed Game 1,
and if his injury kept him from a playoff opener, it’s hard to
imagine how it’ll be well enough to allow him to contribute in Game
2. But the Nuggets need more, and Barton could help.
— PRESSURE IS ON: Denver, obviously and completely. If the
Nuggets go down 0-2, at home, with a roster missing their
second-best player and all sorts of little nagging aches among the
guys who are still there, it’ll be big trouble.
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AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this
report.
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