The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Miami Heat 131-124 on Tuesday night in another in-season tournament game and they will face the New York Knicks in the elimination stage next Monday. Milwaukee won Group B in the Eastern Conference and they will be the number one seed.
New York finished fourth and won the point differential tiebreakers. The Knicks went 3-1 in the in-season tournament and the Bucks finished with a perfect 4-0 record in Group B play.
In the game on Tuesday night, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 33 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and recorded five assists. He has been on a tear and has been playing at an MVP level at the moment.
As for Damian Lillard, he scored 32 points, grabbed four rebounds, and recorded nine assists. One of the most important things for Milwaukee was not that Antetokounmpo and Lillard did their thing once again, but Khris Middleton returned to the lineup and played well.
Middleton scored 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and recorded two assists. He has missed four games this season and just the other day, head coach Adrian Griffin Jr. was unsure when he was going to return to the court, but luckily it was quicker than anticipated.
Head coach Adrian Griffin Jr. told Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the game:
“We’ve played extremely well in the In-Season Tournament. Hopefully the next game we can still keep this up and get another win and if we win we go to Vegas? Great, man. I haven’t been in Vegas in a long time. So hopefully we can go to Vegas.”
If the Milwaukee Bucks Beat the New York Knicks, they would face the Winner of the Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers
If the Bucks beat the Knicks and Jalen Brunson on Monday, they would face the winner of the Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers matchup. It would be a tough game no matter how you slice it. Boston is one of the best teams in the NBA led by Jayson Tatum. Indiana is one of Milwaukee’s rivals and one of the best offenses in the NBA this year led by Tyrese Haliburton.
This will be a good test for the Milwaukee Bucks for the next week for the NBA in-season Tournament. Milwaukee should beat New York, but it won’t be a walk in the park to win the NBA in-season Tournament after that.
