The Miami Heat have what ESPN thinks it takes to beat the Milwaukee Bucks
The Miami Heat have toyed with allowing Khris Middleton to beat them. They won that battle and that game.
“Rule 2: Make Middleton beat you”
This one right here is a real doozy. You say so because although Khris Middleton isn’t Giannis, he’s been darn good in his own right this season. Middleton is an All-Star and a 50-40-90 guy, meaning 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three, and 90 percent from the free-throw line or better in all three and that, my friends, is some good shooting.
He isn’t a backbreaker on his own though. Let’s see what Goldsberry had to say first.
"Middleton has become one of the most efficient volume shooters in the league. But when the Bucks needed Middleton to thrive in the Toronto series last year, he went the other way. Milwaukee gave up a chance to go up 3-0 in a six-point loss in Game 3, with Middleton shooting 3 for 16 and posting nine points in 44 minutes. Oof. Then, with the series tied 2-2 in Game 5 at home, Middleton didn’t answer, going 2-for-9 in 36 minutes. Again, the Bucks lost by six. The rest is Canadian history. Antetokounmpo has become a perennial MVP candidate because he is the most ferocious two-way player on earth. But his case is also helped because he sometimes looks alone in big games. He can easily seem so much more valuable than any other player on his team. Middleton could definitely change that in the bubble, but you can bet Bucks opponents will design their game plans to make him prove it."
Here’s what you want to understand, again, Middleton is a good to sneaky great player. You use “sneaky great” here because if he continues his trajectory or even equal to his current path, he may well turn out to be an all-time shooter but he’s not there yet. What he also isn’t… is Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Greek Freak is the key to all of their success, although Middleton and the rest of the crew have a large hand in it. They without him though, cannot have the same amounts of success and it’s proven.
When you look at the box scores and specifically the “+/-” figures for each contest, when Giannis is a “-” and even if it’s just a “-1”, they tend to lose. When he doesn’t play, those chances of defeat are just as great.
You also heavily take into account what you can see with your eyes. Middleton is a great second option but apparently doesn’t have the fortitude to be the number one guy. When Giannis is being held in check(although rarely) or when he doesn’t play, you would think that it would be a beacon for Middleton to step up and have himself a game of games, right?
Well, it hasn’t always turned out that way and even when it has, it hasn’t always resulted in victory. That’s what the Miami Heat did in their second victory against the Milwaukee Bucks, they tried to allow Khris Middleton to beat them and he couldn’t.
In that second game where Giannis struggled, the one where he went 6/14 from two-point range and 6/18 overall, Middelton went 4/16 overall and 2/10 from deep. He made 20 percent of the 10 three-pointers he took( easy math but 2/10), yea, you read that right. So again, Goldsberry is spot on here again and the Miami Heat can and have done this as well.