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MIAMI (AP) – Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 33 points, Damian Lillard added 32 and the Milwaukee Bucks held on in the fourth quarter to beat the Miami Heat 131-124 on Tuesday night to win a home quarterfinal game in the NBA in-season tournament.
Khris Middleton scored 17, Malik Beasley had 16 and Brook Lopez had 12 for the Bucks, who won East Group B with a 4-0 record.
They’ll host wild-card New York on Dec. 4 or 5, with East Group C winner Boston taking on Group A winner Indiana for the other quarterfinal before the Final Four in Las Vegas.
Bam Adebayo scored 31 points for the Heat, who got 21 from Kyle Lowry and 20 from Josh Richardson. Jaime Jacquez Jr. and Caleb Martin each scored 14 and Duncan Robinson had 13 for the Heat.
Miami was without Jimmy Butler (ankle) and Haywood Highsmith (back); Butler averaged 37.6 points in Miami’s five-game sweep of Milwaukee in last season’s playoffs, with games of 56 and 42 in the final two games of that series.
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The Bucks lost Pat Connaughton with a right ankle sprain late in the second quarter.
Lowry made a 3-pointer with 3:25 remaining to put Miami ahead 118–115, but the Bucks finished on a 16–6 run. After a foul call against Richardson and a technical evaluation by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, Lillard made three free throws with 1:03 remaining, helping put the game out of reach.
The Heat missed 10 of their first 11 shots and quickly fell behind 15–2. The 1-for-11 start was the third-worst in the first 5 1/2 minutes of a game this season; On November 18, against Miami, Chicago’s score was 0 for 8 runs and on October 31, against Orlando, the Los Angeles Clippers’ score was 1 for 12 runs.
The Bulls won that game. The Clippers did the same. And the Heat had the lead at halftime on Tuesday.
He had two separate 7-for-8 shooting stretches later in the half, and a 40-point second quarter helped Miami go up 62–59 at the break. The lead reached five points in the second half, before Milwaukee took the lead.
Milwaukee: Visit Chicago on Thursday.
Miami: Hosts Indiana on Thursday, then again on Saturday.
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