Heat Goes Up 3-0 to the Surprise of No One
There’s a saying that a playoff series doesn’t really begin until the road team wins a game. Well, if that is trues, then the Miami Heat vs Milwaukee Bucks series began and pretty much ended at the same time. The Heat took over in the third quarter, out-scoring the Bucks 30-18 in the period to go on to a 104-91 win to take a 3-0 lead in the series.
The Bucks started off playing well when they hit five threes in the first quarter to take a 30-21 lead into the second quarter, but the Heat won every quarter after that one.
Ray Allen led the Heat with 23 points and Lebron James added 22 to lead the Heat. Udonis Haslem also had 12 points to go with 16 from Chris Bosh as Miami overcame an off night from Dwayne Wade who had only four points in the arena where he played his college ball. Wade was a terrible 1-12 from the field.
The Bucks were led by Brandon Jennings and Larry Sanders with 16 each as Ersan Ilyasova added 15, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute chipped in 12 and Mike Dunleavy and J.J. Redick 11 each.
The Bucks will now face elimination unless they can beat Miami four games in a row. That’s just not happening. More likely, the Bucks will be playing their last game of the season in Game Four as the Heat moves on to face the winner of the Brooklyn Nets vs Chicago Bulls series.
The Bulls now have a 2-1 lead in that series after beating the Nets in Chicago 79-76 on Thursday night. Carlos Boozer seemed to be one of the few who could put the ball in the basket as he finished with 22 points and 16 rebounds in this slugfest. Luol Deng added 21 points and 10 boards as the Bulls grabbed a 2-1 lead in the best of seven after being routed in Game One.
Kirk Hinrich was the only other Bulls player in double figures with 12 points as Joakim Noah continues to be hobbled by a sore foot. He had only one point in 27 minutes, although he did grab eight rebounds.
The Nets were led by Brook Lopez with 22 points, Deron Williams with 18 and Joe Johnson with 15.
The Nets rallied in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bulls 24-14, but it was not enough after being outscored in the previous three quarters. Chicago led 41-34 at the half and 65-52 at the end of the third.
The Nets will try to even the series in Game Four before heading back to Brooklyn. If they fail, they will be facing elimination for the next three games.
