Last Night In The NBA: The Bucks Are In A World Of Trouble And The Rockets Survive Another Crazy Game 7

Nathaniel S. Butler. Getty Images.

Good morning everybody happy Thursday and welcome back to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we bring you up to speed on everything that went down from the night before in the Association. In yesterday's blog I talked about how I hoped that Wednesday night's slate would live up to the craziness we say on Tuesday and uhhhhhhhhhhhh it went up a level or two. I'll say it once again for the people in the back. How could anyone NOT be watching these playoffs?? Every single night it delivers and then some and Wednesday was no different. There was tons of drama in both games, another crazy Game 7, we're at the point now where every single bubble playoff game is must watch stuff. As always if you got busy or for whatever reason couldn't watch, just keep reading because here's what happened.

Miami Heat (2-0) 116 vs Milwaukee Bucks (0-2) 114

If Bucks fans weren't nervous after dropping Game 1, they have to be nervous now. Not just about potentially losing this series to a 4 seed, but also what it could mean for the future of Giannis. Whenever people talked about Giannis leaving it was always around him losing in either the Finals or the ECF. If it happens in the SECOND ROUND? Oh boy. I wouldn't turn on the TV or go on the internet for months if I were a Bucks fan. Don't do that to yourself. Because this is their situation right now. They are in a series where even if their two best players actually show up like they did in Game 2

it still doesn't look to be enough to beat the Heat. For a team that looked so dominant before the hiatus, the Bucks have been anything but since arriving in the bubble. Not only do they look human, they actually kinda stink? It's all very weird to process. The deflating part is they got Eric Bledsoe back

and even got some second unit scoring and it still wasn't enough. Their defense, which had been historic all season, looks like a disaster. The came the outside shooting woes. Just 7-25 from three, nothing the Bucks are trying in this series seems to be working. I think it's around 80% that whoever goes up 2-0 wins the series? That's not great for the Bucks even while having Giannis on the roster. 

Now here's the thing. You can't talk about this game without the ending

If this happened to my favorite team, I would be bullshit. What an insane call to make in that situation. Think of the ripple effects that could come as a result of making this call. Man that's some bullshit. This is the playoffs! I wonder how a Bucks fan thinks about this considering the call they got with Middleton literally right before this

Just a disaster for the officials. I cannot WAIT to see the L2M report. Sadly though, the Bucks are in big time trouble because now the Heat smell blood. It's going to take a monumental effort to get back into this series given how well the Heat are playing, and even if you thought the Heat might pull off the upset, how many people were expecting a 2-0 lead?

Now for MIA, I talked yesterday about how I expected them to get back to form, especially from behind the arc. They struggled from three in Game 1 and you had to know they were going to bounce back. They made 17 3PM in Game 2, had 7 players in double figures and only turned it over 10 times. I'd say that's about as perfect a performance as you can have against this Bucks defense

I told you to watch out for Goran Dragic, this dude has been playing at an insane level ever since the playoffs started. For me, he's been the x factor that has taken MIA up a level. I also thought maybe the return of Eric Bledsoe would slow him down, so allow me to admit I was wrong there. Nobody is stopping Goran Dragic right now. We're very close to a possibility of the Heat being up 3-0 which will pretty much be the nail in the coffin, and it looks like all that hype surrounding the Heat and their chances against the Bucks is justified.

Oklahoma City Thunder (3-4) 102 vs Houston Rockets (4-3) 104

Just like we had with UTA/DEN, another Game 7 delivered. This one was a battle the entire way though with 15 lead changes and 13 ties. Close until the final buzzer, tons of drama everywhere you looked, there really is nothing like a Game 7. For OKC they got a prayer, and I mean prayer, offensive performance from my guy Lu Dort who threw up 30 goddamn points

Love seeing my fellow Sun Devils thrive. For the record, I knew this was possible years ago

anyway, when you thought about this Game 7 there's no way you expected Lu Dort to put up this offensive performance. That's not his game. He's a defensive beast not some sort of offensive weapon. You add to it a nice night from SGA and a CP3 triple double

and it really looked like the Thunder might pull it out. They finished with 46/47% splits with 16 3PM, but the 21 TOs were killer. I'd say their nerves maybe got the best of them offensively in the second half only scoring 43 points, but they still had a chance to tie or win it in the final possession

who saw James Harden making a huge defensive play to win the game coming? Like I said, these games were filled with chaos.

For HOU, look, they tried everything they could to give this game away. Once again James Harden wasn't touching the ball down the stretch. We got a whole lot of Russell Westbrook in the fourth quarter and he went 1-8. They have to figure that shit out. Then you had Robert Covington not only missing a bunny putback, but also missing a huge FT late. Then there was Eric Gordon turning it over at mid court which could have been a disaster. Poor Rockets fans man, this team puts them through absolute HELL. 

James Harden didn't exactly help his Game 7 narrative by going 4-15 (1-9) so him getting that block was huge. This team finally didn't choke a Game 7 and now we get to see this team go up against the Lakers which should be a great series. Will the size be too much or will the Lakers lack of shooting negate it? I'm just happy we get to find out.

And that's it! You are now caught up with everything that went down last night in the NBA. I think it goes without saying that I am very excited for today's slate, because chances are it's going to be another awesome night of playoff basketball. Have a great Thursday!