NBA playoffs 2021: Giannis wants Bucks to ‘keep getting better’ after sweep of Heat

The Miami Heat held the Bucks’ top two scorers without a field goal in the first quarter of Game 4, but Milwaukee pushed through that early adversity and prevailed 120-103 to sweep the first-round NBA playoff series.

Khris Middleton finally got on the board early in the second quarter and the Greek star went without a basket from the field until a dunk with one minute to play in the second quarter, but Antetokounmpo said his team never lost patience even when their shots failed to fall.

“At the end of the day, nothing’s going to be easy. It’s a game that’s win or go home for them,” he said.

“Obviously they’re going to play extremely hard, they’re going to try to be physical, they’re going to try to get us out of our spots.

“But at the end of the day, as players you’re going to have games that you’re going to come, you’re going to score the ball right off the bat. There’s going to be days that you’re not going to do that.

“Today was one of those days that we couldn’t score the ball right off the bat but at the end of the day we keep finding one another, keep facilitating, keep playing the right way. For me and for Khris, that’s what we both did.

“Obviously they did a great job guarding us and just making it tough for us, but it did not really test our patience, because what we do, we keep playing the right way, we keep finding one another.”

The MVP dropped his first career playoff triple-double:

20 PTS | 15 AST | 12 REB pic.twitter.com/EfL5MvCnFT

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) May 29, 2021

Antetokounmpo turned in a career-best 15 assists on the way to his first playoff triple-double, adding 20 points and 12 rebounds as the Bucks out-scored the Heat 64-39 in the second half.

But he left most of the scoring load to others this time, as Brook Lopez led the way with 25 points, Middleton had 20, and Bryn Forbes scored 22 off the bench.

“I try to affect the game in any way I can,” Antetokounmpo said.

“I’m blessed enough that I can affect the game defensively, I can pass the ball.

“There’s days I’m going to be dominant, and I’m mature enough to understand that there’s days I’m going to be able to do it and there’s days I’m not going to be able to do it.”

Thanks to their first-round sweep, Milwaukee will have a week off before the next round, where they were eliminated 4-1 by the Bucks last season.

Antetokounmpo and his teammates want more this year, and they know this was just the start.

“We’ve got to keep getting better. We have a week now to recover and rest our bodies and get better,” he said.

Obviously we don’t know who we’re playing yet. We’re going to try to focus on ourselves as much as possible.

“Not trying to take anything away from this moment — obviously it’s a great moment for us, winning 4-0 and beating the team that beat us last year. It feels good. But at the end of the day, we’ve got a long way to go. Gotta stay humble.”