Bucks on the brink after late flop

ORLANDO • Giannis Antetokounmpo insisted that he could have played more on Friday, after the Milwaukee Bucks fell into a 3-0 National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference semi-finals series hole.

In what was a must-win game against the Miami Heat in Disney World, the league's reigning Most Valuable Player was limited to under 35 minutes. The Bucks started the fourth quarter without their superstar on the floor and ended it with a historic collapse as the Heat won 115-100.

The Bucks went into the fourth quarter 12 points up, but were outscored 40-13 - the most lopsided final period in a play-off game since the NBA introduced the shot clock in 1954.

Antetokounmpo, who tweaked his ankle in the first quarter and left the arena with a noticeable limp, scored just four points in the fourth quarter. Heat star Jimmy Butler scored 17 of his game-high 30 points that period - more than the entire Bucks roster.

"I feel great," Antetokounmpo said after finishing with 21 points, 16 rebounds, nine assists and two blocks. "I could play more."

But two-time NBA Coach of the Year Mike Budenholzer defended his usage of the forward and Khris Middleton, who had 18 points and seven assists in 36:02.

"No, I think we, obviously, it's 48 minutes. You gotta be good for the last 12. If anything, I think keeping us fresh and ready to go and compete and all those things," Budenholzer said. "Khris was in a little bit of a foul trouble. It's a high level. If you're going as hard as these guys are in a play-off game, 35-36, I think that's pushing the ceiling."

The Bucks might not have many minutes left to save their season. No NBA team in 139 previous scenarios has come back from a 3-0 series deficit.

"We're not comfortable, we're not complacent," said Butler said ahead of Game 4 today. "We know we're gonna have to earn this last one as well."

Miami, 7-0 in these play-offs, also got 20 points and a team-high 16 rebounds from Bam Adebayo. Jae Crowder made a big contribution with 17 points, sinking five of 11 three-point attempts.

Milwaukee got a team-high 22 points from Brook Lopez.

Field goal from the Milwaukee Bucks in the final 4min 20sec of the game, during which they took 10 shots, including seven from three-point range.

Antetokounmpo shot just seven-for-21 from the floor, including zero-for-seven from three-point range.

The Heat had a 54-33 advantage on threes in Game 3 and have outscored the Bucks 141-102 on trebles in the series.

The Bucks were without a field goal in the last 4min 20sec, when the overall top seeds were zero-of-10 from the floor, with seven of those misses from behind the arc.

"Obviously, if there is a team that can beat a team 4-0, and beat them, it can be us," Antetokounmpo said.

"We just got to believe in ourselves, watch the tape, play hard. We can't do it game by game but play by play, position by position."

Western Conference top seeds the Los Angeles Lakers and star LeBron James were also beaten on Friday, falling 112-97 to the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of their Western Conference semi-final series.

James Harden's 36 points fuelled the Rockets, whose size disadvantage against the Lakers proved no handicap.

"Our defence, that's going to get us to where we want to go," he said. "This (Lakers) team is the best team in the West, if we can hold them under 100 points, defensively we've got something."

Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 25 points and 14 rebounds.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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MIAMI V MILWAUKEE

East s-finals, Game 4

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