Los Angeles (AFP, REUTERS) - The Milwaukee Bucks produced an exhibition of three-point shooting in a crushing victory over the Miami Heat to take a 2-0 lead in their National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference first round play-off series on Monday (May 24).
Bryn Forbes erupted for five threes in the first half and Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 31 points to give the Bucks a resounding 132-98 win over last year's NBA Finals runners-up.
Overall, the Bucks made 22 of 53 three-point attempts, Antetokounmpo kicking off the rout with a 8.5-metre pull-up from outside the arc for the first points of the game.
After an overtime thriller in Game 1 on Saturday, the Bucks were in no mood to leave anything to chance in Game 2, erupting for 46 points in the first quarter alone.
The Bucks made 15 of 29 three-point attempts in the first half and surged into leads of more than 30 points at various stages of a one-sided encounter.
They maintained a healthy cushion throughout, with the Heat unable to get within 20 points of the Bucks after briefly clawing their way back to a 19-point deficit early in the second quarter.
Antetokounmpo added 13 rebounds and six assists, while Forbes finished with 22 points off the bench.
"After Game 1, I didn't look at the stat sheet," Antetokounmpo said.
"At the end of the day, a win is a win. All I care about is winning the game, putting my teammates in a position to win a game.
"It feels good when guys are knocking down shots. We were seeing the ball go in, we were making stops, it felt good. We've got to stay locked in for Game 3."
Khris Middleton added 17 points as six Bucks players made double-digit totals. Dewayne Dedmon led the Miami scorers with 19 points from the bench, while Goran Dragic added 18. Bam Adebayo was restricted to 16 points, while Jimmy Butler was held to just 10.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the team would need to make a big improvement for Game 3 in Miami on Thursday.
"They're a great first-quarter team when they get it going and clicking," Spoelstra said of the Bucks.
"This game just got out of hand so quickly, but you do have to respect what they did tonight. They were really explosive in those first and third quarters."
Over in the Western Conference, Nikola Jokic scored 38 points as hosts Denver Nuggets beat the Portland Trail Blazers 128-109 in Game 2.
The Nuggets evened the best-of-seven series 1-1 with help from Paul Millsap (15 points), Aaron Gordon (13), Monte Morris (12) and Facundo Campazzo (12), while Damian Lillard scored 22 of his game-high 42 points in the second quarter and added 10 assists for the Trail Blazers. CJ McCollum scored 21, Norman Powell had 15 and Jusuf Nurkic grabbed 13 rebounds.
Game 3 is on Thursday night in Portland.
