The Miami Heat took game 3 of their best-of-seven first round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks to take a 2-1 series lead. Now the Heat will try to take a commanding series lead with game 4 Monday night at home.

Bucks lose without Giannis

The Milwaukee Bucks, the top seed in the Eastern Conference, got their doors blown in in game 3 Saturday night in Miami 121-99 to fall behind 2-1 in the first round matchup. But let’s be honest, they played without the best player in the NBA for the second straight game, Giannis Antetokounmpo, so they have been at a sizable disadvantage. So I can throw all the numbers at you in the world, but the big question is — what is the status of Antetokounmpo? If he plays, the Bucks will probably win. If he doesn’t, the Bucks could go back home down 3-1 and be in a big hole.

“We’ve got a really good team,” Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “This group’s been together. There’s a ton of confidence in that locker room, players that can play and execute at a high level. It’s one game today. We weren’t our best and we’ve got to look at that, we’ve got to own that and be better going into the next game knowing that we’ve got a really good team and really good players.” So, what is the big man’s status? He is listed as questionable for Monday’s game. So, obviously, you want to check on his status before game time before making a bet one way or the other.

Heat take 2-1 lead

The Miami Heat took care of business in game 3, beating the top seeded Bucks 121-99 on Saturday night. They now hold a 2-1 lead in the best of 7 series. They took advantage of the absence of Giannis Antetokounmpo and shot 53% from the floor with 16 threes in the convincing win. They also out rebounded the Bucks and had 13 steals. Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 30 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. The Heat also got a nice boost from Duncan Robinson, who drained 20 points off the bench with 5 three pointers.

Robinson filled in nicely for sharpshooter Tyler Herro, who was lost for the season with injury in game 1 of this series. The bench overall was awesome as Kyle Lowry added 15 points. “The second unit all night long just gave us a tremendous boost. … Flying around, creating great offense. Each one of them put their fingerprints on the game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, reported the Athletic. “The second unit really came in with a mindset that they wanted to impact this game.” Along with Herro, Victor Oladipo is on the injury list with a knee injury. He is questionable for Monday.