MIAMI — An 0-2 deficit against a very good opponent?
That, the Heat can rationalize, perhaps even begrudgingly accept, as they head home to Miami for Thursday’s Game 3 of this first-round, best-of-7 playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks.
But a performance as feeble as Monday’s 132-98 dismantling, a game in which the Heat never seriously challenged?
That’s far more difficult to reconcile, impossible to stomach.
So how does this happen?
“They imposed their will, did what they do best, got out in transition,” Jimmy Butler said. “They made a lot of shots. But we didn’t make anything difficult on them, didn’t take anything away. The game got out of hand pretty early.”
Milwaukee settled matters quickly, hitting 10 of 15 3s in a 46-point first quarter in which the Bucks led by as many as 28. Miami never drew within 20 in the second half.
But this was about more than the Bucks shooting 22 for 53 on 3s (41.5%).
This was about being pummeled on the boards, 61-36.
This was about being tardy on switches, against both 3-point shooters and Bucks players cutting to the basket.
And this was about the Heat’s two stars underdelivering for two consecutive games.
Butler, after missing 18 of his 22 shots in the opener, took only 10 shots in Game 2, making four in 32 minutes. His 16 combined points/assists/rebounds (10 points, four assists, two rebounds) were his fewest in a game since New Year’s Day in Dallas.
Bam Adebayo went 0 for 3 with no rebounds during the Bucks’ first-quarter romp and produced most of his numbers (16 points, three rebounds and four assists) when the margin was lopsided.
Afterward, both of the Heat’s two recent All-Stars were circumspect.
Adebayo said he and Butler must “pick our spots. The ball is not going in right now. Just keep shooting our shots, keep shooting the same shots.”
But Butler wondered aloud whether he and Adebayo need to take a different approach.
“Sometimes we get a little lost in getting everybody involved,” Butler said. “That’s not a bad thing. That’s what made myself and him a really good player in this league. At times, you got to go, myself especially. We rely a lot on our teammates to get them the rock as well. I don’t think we can get away from that, but maybe we’ve got to impose our will a little more, be a little more aggressive.”
Butler’s message to the team? “That it’s never that bad.... We know what we have to do better. The bright spot is I don’t think you can play any worse.
“I’m excited because we get the opportunity to find what myself and my teammates are made out of. We get an opportunity to play again and get it to 2-1.”
Asked about putting aside frustration and embarrassment of losing a playoff game by 34 points, Butler said: “I don’t think [anybody] is embarrassed. That’s just part of the game. They whipped our tail. You put this behind us. We got two days to get ready for the next one.
“I don’t think frustration is going to change anything. You have to compete a lot harder, do things the right way. We realize we lost this together. We’re down 0-2 together. We’re going to be together to play Game 3.”
Adebayo, meanwhile, said his aggressiveness wasn’t the issue. “I started off the game pretty aggressive,... looking for shots and just need to continue doing that and getting to the free throw line,” he said. “You can always be more aggressive.”
Asked what emotions he’s feeling, Adebayo said: “It’s a lot. We definitely didn’t expect to be down 2-0 in the playoffs, so there’s a lot of emotions going on. But we’re all men and we need to figure this out.”
Confidence is not an issue, Adebayo said.
“I don’t think we need to give ourselves a pep talk,” he said. “Crazier things have happened in this league. We know the adjustments we’ve got to do. It’s not a mental thing because you never know, we can get in our arena and shoot the lights out.”
But even though the Heat are raising AmericanAirlines Arena capacity from less than 5,700 to 17,000, Butler — asked if the home crowd will help — said: “I don’t think so. We love playing in front of our home crowd. ... I guess it will feel a little better, a little different at home, but we still have to go out there and handle business.”
One area where business must be better handled: Rebounding. Never a Heat strength this season, it has become a glaring deficiency against a team that ranked second in rebound differential this season.
“They made the majority of their shots so therefore we couldn’t get defensive rebounds,” Butler said. “As far as the offensive rebounds [Milwaukee has 22 to Miami’s eight on Monday], when the ball is in air, we talk about we’re going to be the ones that get those. Same thing when the ball is on the floor. We didn’t do that and that gave them extra possessions and they capitalized on that.”
No Heat starter in Game 2 had more rebounds than Trevor Ariza’s five. “That’s got to change,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The first part is a physicality aspect when the ball goes up.”
Spoelstra played Dwayne Dedmon and Adebayo for an extended stretch together for the first time since Dedmon joined the team in April. Dedmon had 19 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes and said he “definitely liked” that pairing with Adebayo.
“It’s something coach talked about doing earlier,” Dedmon said. “I feel it worked out good.”While Dedmon has played well, three Heat wing players have been misfiring through two games.
Tyler Herro is shooting 3 for 15 in the series, Kendrick Nunn 8 for 24 and Trevor Ariza 3 for 11 after missing all three of his shots and going scoreless in 19 minutes of Game 2.
