The Miami Heat were not in a great mood during the second half of their playoff game against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks Monday evening.
For good reason. Already down 1-0 in the series following an electric opener this past weekend, Miami trailed by 26 points after the first quarter. That’s a real thing. And it created frustration on the part of the reigning Eastern Conference champions.
This boiled over in the third quarter when recently-acquired Heat wing Trevor Ariza committed a hard foul on reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. It’s not the foul that had officials checking for a flagrant. It’s the extra-curricular activity on the part of Ariza that had this go to replay.
As you can see, Ariza pretty much did a push-up on Giannis’ midsection. Replay also showed that the Greek Freak was in some sort of discomfort after the dirty play.
In the end, Ariza received a flagrant one and was able to remain in the game. Miami was down 80-53 at the time of the foul.
To make matters even worse, Heat guard Kendrick Nunn also had a common foul upgraded to a flagrant later in the third quarter.
Miami needs to get its act together in short order. Playing bad basketball is one thing. Showing this level of frustration when heading back to South Beach likely in a 2-0 series hole is another thing.
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