Milwaukee Bucks v Miami Heat Betting Tips [2 September 2020]
Basketball - NBA
2 September 2020 18:30
The match
Top-seeded and favourites to go all the way in NBA this season, Milwaukee Bucks face an uphill battle in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. The first game of the series didn’t go to plan for the Bucks who fell to a 115-104 loss. Although 2-0 is not a catastrophe, the Bucks would be desperate to level the series and justify their top-billing.
Milwaukee were quick off the blocks in the first game picking up a 40-29 lead in the first quarter. However, things took a turn for the worse from the second quarter onwards culminating in a loss. This continued the theme of the regular season where the Heat won the mini-series 2-1. Additionally, the Bucks have to fight their poor historical record in the playoffs against the Heat having lost each of the five matches so far.
The fifth-seeded Heat ended the regular season with a 44-29 record and were exceptional after adding Jimmy Butler to the roster. They continued that form to the playoffs and swept the Indiana Pacers off with a 4-0 win. Butler once again was the star of the show, although Tyler Herro rose to the occasion for the Heat. Even in the first game, Butler was all over the Bucks with his points. On the other hand, Bam Adebayo was brilliant with his triple game – 17 rebounds, six assists, and 12 points. Defending Giannis could be crucial to their hopes, although the firepower in the Heat camp is strong enough to carry them past the winning line.
Key Statistics
- Heat have won all five playoff head-to-head matches.
- Heat have won four of their last five NBA Eastern Conference semi-finals.
- Bucks have lost the head-to-head series this season 2-1, but have won four of their last six head-to-heads if excluding the playoffs.
The bet of our experts
The Bucks were a strong contender for the NBA title all season long and carried the best regular-season record among all teams (56-17). They did have an initial hiccup in the Game 1 of first round of the playoffs against Orlando Magic, but swept through the next four. Star player Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t have a great game in the first one – 18 points – and will look to dominate the Heat. On the other hand, the Heat show was run by Jimmy Butler who scorched with 40 points while Goran Dragic chipped in with 27. It will be interesting to see how the Bucks get back into the series. Coming to the predictions, we are predicting the game to finish with under 221 points, which was the case in four of Heat’s last five playoff matches.
