AP – With the game on the line, the Milwaukee Bucks were just about perfect. And they’re headed to the In-Season Tournament quarter-finals.
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 33 points, Damian Lillard added 32 and the Bucks rallied in the fourth-quarter to beat the Miami Heat 131-124 yesterday and clinch a home quarter-final game in the NBA’s inaugural in-season event.
The Bucks closed the game on a 16-6 run, going five for six from the field and five for five from the line in that stretch. Khris Middleton scored 17, Malik Beasley had 16 and Brook Lopez 12 for the Bucks, who won East Group B with a 4-0 record.
Bam Adebayo scored 31 points for the Heat, who got 21 from Kyle Lowry and 20 from Josh Richardson. Jaime Jaquez Jr and Caleb Martin each scored 14 and Duncan Robinson added 13 for the Heat.
The Bucks lost Pat Connaughton to a sprained right ankle late in the second-quarter.
Lowry made a three-pointer with 3:25 left to put Miami up 118-115, but the Bucks finished on a 16-6 run.
Lillard made three free throws with 1:03 remaining to help put the game out of reach, following a foul call against Richardson and a technical assessed to Spoelstra.
The Heat missed 10 of their first 11 shots and got down 15-2. They had two separate seven-for-eight shooting stretches later in the half, and a 40-point second-quarter helped Miami go into the break up 62-59. The lead reached five points in the second-half, before Milwaukee rallied.
