Bucks defense suffocates Heat, locks down Game 3 win

The Milwaukee Bucks took their show on the road, and it’s fair to say that their game travels well.

This series held more of the same as it shifted to South Beach, with the Bucks dominating the Miami Heat once again, cruising to a 113-84 win in Game 3.

The Bucks move one step closer to advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the third consecutive season, while the Heat are heading back to the drawing board to figure out what went wrong a year after making the NBA Finals.

Here is how the Bucks won Game 3:

Key performer: Bucks defense

On a night where the offense stalled for the Bucks relative to their normal standards, their defense clamped down and carried them to a win.

The Bucks have held the Heat offense in check for the majority of this series, but in Game 3 they took the defense to another level, setting the tone early by holding Miami to 14 points in the first quarter, 22 points in the second quarter, and 24 points in the third to effectively end the game before the final period.

For the night, they held the Heat to 38.1% shooting from the field.

Turning point: 12-6 Bucks run to start the second quarter

A 12-6 run might not seem like much, and normally it isn’t, but for the Bucks, this run put them in firm control of the game to start the second quarter.

After ending the first quarter with a 26-14 lead, this run pushed their lead to 18 points to 38-20, and the Bucks never looked back.

The lead would never fall below double digits again, with it swelling to as many as 30 points in the fourth quarter.

Wild card: 3-point shooting

The Bucks defense was the star for the team tonight, but when combined with their shooting from deep, it becomes clear how they dominated this game.

In the third quarter alone, the Bucks shot 7-of-10 from 3-point range, a barrage that the Heat couldn’t overcome.

That quarter alone outpaced the Heat’s total of six made 3-pointers through the first three quarters of the game.

Across the entire game, the Bucks outscored the Heat by 12 points from 3-point range.

Twitter’s take:

Did you know?

History is officially on the Bucks side.

In NBA playoff history, teams up 3-0 in a playoff series are a perfect 140-0 in those series. Only three teams (1951 Knicks, 1994 Nuggets, 2003 Trail Blazers) have ever forced a Game 7 after facing a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series.

What’s next?

The Bucks will look to do the hardest thing in the NBA Playoffs – close out a series.

They will look to complete the sweep in Miami, with Game 4 starting at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

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