Bucks aim higher after Heat whitewash

MIAMI • No National Basketball Association (NBA) team have come back from a 3-0 play-off deficit and it was the case again on Saturday, as the Milwaukee Bucks completed a four-game sweep of the Miami Heat.

The visitors moved into the second round of the Eastern Conference, where they will face the winner of the Brooklyn Nets-Boston Celtics series (2-1), after posting a 120-103 win over the hosts.

Giannis Antetokounmpo posted just the third triple-double in franchise history after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Paul Pressey, finishing with 20 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds.

Milwaukee also got 25 points from Brook Lopez, while reserve Bryn Forbes underlined a 22-point performance with seven three-pointers, and Khris Middleton collected 20 points with 11 rebounds.

Despite being paced by 20 points from Bam Adebayo, the Heat, who reached the NBA Finals last year, were swept for the first time since 2007 against the Chicago Bulls.

Having lost their two previous post-season match-ups with Miami, including last season's semi-finals, this was sweet revenge for Milwaukee.

The Bucks now have ample time to prepare for the East semi-finals. Although they suffered a blow before the game after it was confirmed starting guard Donte DiVincenzo will miss the rest of the post-season due to a foot injury he suffered in Game 3, Antetokounmpo feels they have improved mentally.

Milwaukee were the No. 1 seeds for the past two seasons, only to choke in the play-offs, so the two-time Most Valuable Player will not read too much into their sweep of the Heat.

"We've got to focus on ourselves, try to get better," Antetokounmpo said.

"We want to get better defensively and whoever we get in the next round, we're going to be ready. We just tried to focus a game at a time. We didn't want to play with our food."

On losing DiVincenzo, the forward added: "He's a big part of our game. It's going to be tough not having him going forward but a lot of guys are going to step up for us."

The Philadelphia 76ers, the top-seeded East team, can also be confident of advancing to the second round after taking a near insurmountable 3-0 lead over the Washington Wizards.

The visiting Sixers cruised to a 132-103 victory over the hosts and such was their dominance that Joel Embiid, who had both a game-high and career play-off high 36 points, was able to sit out the entire fourth quarter.

If Philadelphia close out the eighth seeds today, they will await the winners of the Atlanta Hawks-New York Knicks clash (2-1).

In Memphis, the Utah Jazz, the team with the best regular-season record, survived a late challenge from the Grizzlies for a 121-111 win and a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference first-round play-off series.

In Portland, Norman Powell had 29 points as the Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 115-95, levelling their series at 2-2.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS