Milwaukee Bucks have their way with Miami Heat, sweep defending East champs

What did that poor chair do to deserve such treatment?

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That was actually Miami veteran forward Udonis Haslem's last gasp attempt to fire up his Heat teammates, in an effort to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Unfortunately, that chair's pain was in vain.

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Let's take a look at how the Bucks finished off a first-round sweep of the defending Eastern Conference champion Heat and avenged their loss to Miami in the second-round of last year's playoffs:

Key performers: The Bucks

Consider this: Back-to-back MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and All-Star forward Khris Middleton had a combined 11 points at halftime and Milwaukee only trailed by seven.

In short, Saturday was a team effort for Milwaukee.

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The Bucks had six players score in double-figures, led by Brook Lopez's game-high 25 points and Bryn Forbes' 22 points – including seven 3-pointers – off the bench.

Lopez converted 11 of his 15 field goal attempts and it was only his second time leading the Bucks in scoring this season – his 24 points against Houston on May 7 was the other occasion.

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Turning point: The second half

Would have been cool if the turning point was Haslem's chair slam, but it wasn't.

Even though Antetokounmpo and Middleton were quiet in the first half, they turned it up come the third quarter.

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In the second half, Milwaukee's dynamic duo combined to score 30 points – 15 in the third and 14 in the fourth – and nearly matched Miami's output, as the Heat scored 21 in the third and 18 in the fourth.

In the second half, Milwaukee outscored Miami, 63-39. Giannis ended the day with 20 points, 15 rebounds, 12 assists and two blocks, while Middleton pitched in 20 points and 11 rebounds.

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Wild card: Jimmy Butler

For a majority of the series, Miami All-Star Jimmy Butler was never able to get on track, and Saturday was no different.

Butler notched a triple-double in Game 4 with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, but he never found a rhythm offensively. After scoring 10 points in the first half, he was held to two points on 1-for-7 shooting the rest of the way.

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For the series, Butler averaged 14.5 points on 31.5% shooting.

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Twitter's take:

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Did you know?

With their Game 4 loss, the Miami Heat were swept in a playoff series for the first time since 2006-07, when they lost in four games in the first round to the Chicago Bulls. It's just the fourth time in franchise history that Miami has been swept.

The Heat also become the first team since 2015 (2014-15 Miami Heat) to fail to advance past the first round after reaching the NBA Finals the previous season (Heat failed to make the playoffs in 2014-15 after the departure of LeBron James; they lost in the 2014 NBA Finals the previous season).

What's next?

Milwaukee will await the winner of the second-seeded Brooklyn Nets and seventh-seeded Boston Celtics in the second round. The Nets currently hold a 2-1 advantage in the series, with Game 4 set for Sunday in Boston.

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