“Theyre a terrific group, and you understand theyre going to play hard,” Antetokounmpo said of the Heat. “They play hard for 48 minutes. For you to beat them, you have to match that. You can not play hard for 36 minutes. You can not play tough for 24 minutes. You need to play difficult for 48 minutes to beat a group like that. We understood that entering into the series, and they played more difficult than us.”
Sports and the Virus
Upgraded Sept. 4, 2020
Heres whats occurring as the world of sports slowly returns to life:
The concept that the Heat had “played harder” than the Bucks was a style for Antetokounmpo: He mentioned it 16 times throughout a six-minute news conference. Jimmy Butler, in particular, left his imprint all over the game for Miami, finishing with 30 points, 7 rebounds and 6 helps.
He likewise played just 35 minutes in a video game that the Bucks frantically needed to win, and began the 4th quarter on the bench. He said he might have played more.
“If youre going as hard as these guys are in a playoff game– 35, 36– I think thats pushing the ceiling,” Budenholzer stated, referring to the minutes he wanted his best gamers to provide.
When the season was suspended in March since of the coronavirus pandemic, the Bucks were 53-12 and looking primed for a title run. But they have not been able to reassemble the pieces in the bubble. In 8 seeding games, they went 3-5, then lost the very first video game of their first-round playoff series with the Orlando Magic prior to winning the next 4.
At the very same time, the Bucks have actually been at the center of different stress and obstacles for players here. It was Hill, one of the teams veteran leaders, who led his group to boycott among their championship game against the Magic after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, in Kenosha, Wis. It resulted in a wave of disruptions and protests across multiple sports leagues.
On Friday, Hill was asked whether the team was having a hard time to focus on basketball with a lot else going on.
“They play hard for 48 minutes. You can not play difficult for 36 minutes. You can not play hard for 24 minutes. You have to play tough for 48 minutes to beat a team like that.
