MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 points and Bryn Forbes led Milwaukee’s scorching start from 3-point range as the Bucks trounced the Miami Heat 132-98 on Monday night to extend their lead in this first-round playoff series.
Milwaukee shot 22 of 53 from 3-point range – including 15 of 29 in the first half – and never trailed while leading by as many as 36 points. The Bucks’ 22 3-pointers were their highest total ever in a playoff game.
Forbes scored 22 points and went 6 of 9 on 3-point attempts.
The Bucks own a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series as they attempt to oust the team that beat them 4-1 in the second round last year. Game 3 takes place Thursday in Miami.
Milwaukee’s two victories in this season couldn’t have looked much more different.
The Bucks needed Khris Middleton’s tiebreaking jumper with 0.5 seconds left in overtime to pull out a 109-107 victory in Game 1, which neither team ever led by more than eight points. Milwaukee essentially put away Game 2 in the first quarter as its 3-point attack went from fizzling to sizzling.
Milwaukee had shot 5 of 31 from behind the arc and made its fewest 3-pointers of the season Saturday. The Bucks were 10 of 15 on 3-point attempts in the first quarter alone Monday.
The Bucks led 46-20 at the end of the first quarter and 78-51 at halftime as they posted the highest first-half point total in their playoff history.
NOTES
AWARDS: Utah’s Jordan Clarkson, the only player to come off the bench and score 40 points in a game this season, was announced as the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.
And his closest competition was from a teammate: Utah’s Joe Ingles was second, marking the first time the top two finishers for this award came from the same franchise.
It’s the first time a Jazz player has won the award. Clarkson finished with 65 of the 100 first-place votes cast from a global panel of reporters who cover the league and appeared on all but five of the ballots.
Ingles got 34 of the remaining 35 first-place votes.
New York’s Derrick Rose, the other first-place votegetter, was third, and Dallas teammates Jalen Brunson and Tim Hardaway Jr. were fourth and fifth.
NBA AFRICA: The NBA announced it has formed NBA Africa, which will oversee all league business on the continent, including the Basketball Africa League.
At least five former NBA players – Junior Bridgeman, Grant Hill, Joakim Noah, Congo native Dikembe Mutombo and South Sudan native Luol Deng – are investors in the venture.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum will be on the board of directors.
Silver said the current enterprise value of NBA Africa is “nearly $1 billion,” though amounts of the league and individual investments were not disclosed. The league said some of its primary areas of focus with the venture are to grow the BAL and to launch additional NBA academies in Africa.
“The growth and development is something we’re all enormously proud of,” Silver said.
There are at least 55 players currently in the NBA who were either born in Africa or have a parent from there.
The NBA has played three summer exhibitions in Africa in recent years and there are hopes for more, but there are no firm plans yet to bring preseason or regular season games to the continent.