Milwaukee Bucks Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Sounds Off on Miami Heat’s Failed Comeback Bid

The Milwaukee Bucks got it done on Monday night. In their highly-anticipated rematch against the Miami Heat, it was the Bucks who prevailed via a 122-114 victory over the defending Eastern Conference champions. The win did not come without incident, though, as the Heat nearly mounted an improbable comeback late in the game.

In the end, however, Milwaukee was able to hold on to mark their second win of the new season.

Giannis Antetokounmpo knows that they gave their opponents a window when they could have closed the game out. The Bucks talisman acknowledged the fact that his team made mistakes, particularly in the final minute of action — errors that could have been fatal for Milwaukee:

“Defensively we had one or two miscommunications, but at the end of the day that’s going to happen,” Antetokounmpo said, via Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “But you gotta keep on playing through that and I think the team kept on playing through that and again, we got the win but we didn’t have to do it that way. They came back to the game. Obviously they made tough shots, they got some offensive rebounds, second chance points, they made their threes, they had a transition three. But at the end of the day, once you’re up 20 you gotta put them away.”

Giannis himself committed a crucial turnover with less than half a minute remaining in the fourth quarter after he was called for a 5-second violation on an inbounds play. Fortunately for Milwaukee, Tyler Herro missed a three-point attempt in the ensuing play that would have cut the lead down to just three. Antetokounmpo then made amends by hitting two clutch free throws to close out the game.

As he said, however, the Bucks should not have given the Heat a chance to even try for a comeback. On another day, it could have very easily resulted in a massive disaster for Milwaukee.