MIAMI _ Perhaps this is what a playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks will look like: moments of hope followed by cold reality.
That's if there even is to be playoffs for the Miami Heat.
Up 23 early and by double digits midway through the third quarter, the Heat wilted late in what turned into a sobering 113-98 loss Friday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.
While the Heat exited still as the No. 8 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, the lead over both the Charlotte Hornets and Orlando Magic is now down to a single game.
With the hardest closing schedule of those three teams, including a rematch with the Bucks next Friday in Milwaukee, it likely will take multiple victories over teams of this caliber for the Heat to advance to the postseason.
As Friday night showed, that will require more than 30 minutes of playoff-quality performance.
"First of all you have to credit the Bucks, they're a very good basketball team. They really stepped up their defense," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
"But then secondly, it was the management of our emotional energy and inability to stay present I think that probably hurt us the most. It's going to happen from different games."
In the end, the 33 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists of Giannis Antetokounmpo were too much for the Heat to overcome, especially when his teammates began to load up in the second half on 3-pointers.
"The only chance you have against this team is you have to fly around," Spoelstra said of his team's defense waning.
The Heat pushed to a 37-14 lead late in the first quarter, went into the second period up 37-18 and held a 62-42 halftime lead.
But that's when there was a reversal of fortune from the first period, the Bucks this time outscoring the Heat 37-18 in the third quarter to stand within 80-79 entering the fourth.
A DJ Wilson jumper 23 seconds into the final period gave the Bucks their first lead, at 81-80, with Milwaukee taking off from there.
