Miami Heat at Milwaukee Bucks

Heat reach the East finals, top Bucks to win series 4-1

Giannis Antetokounmpo could only watch.

"We have deep, deep respect for that franchise and it's unfortunate that Giannis couldn't play tonight," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Butler and Goran Dragic each scored 17 points for the Heat, who won the series 4-1 and will face either Boston or Toronto when the NBA's final four gets underway next week. It's Miami's first time in the East finals since 2014, and the first time Butler has gotten this deep in the playoffs.

"It means a lot," Butler said. "But that's not my goal. That's not my guys' goal. That's not the organization's goal. We want to win `it.' We want a championship and I think that's what we're focused on. These next eight are going to be much harder than the previous eight. We know that. But we're ready for them."

Jae Crowder scored 16, Tyler Herro scored 14, Bam Adebayo had 13 and Kelly Olynyk had 12 for the Heat.

Khris Middleton had 23 points for Milwaukee, which got 15 points and 14 rebounds from Brook Lopez. Donte DiVincenzo scored 17, Wesley Matthews and Marvin Williams each had 11 and Eric Bledsoe had nine assists for the Bucks.

The decision to not let Antetokounmpo play came down about 45 minutes before game time.

"I wanted to play," Antetokounmpo said. "You know I wanted to play. I know I wanted to play. My coach knows I wanted to play, but at the end of the day, the organization put my health over Game 5. That's big."

And the Bucks were inspired from the jump.

"You always want to realize those expectations, but the relationships, the character, what this group did ... it would be great if you could have both, but I think if you're going to choose one, I'd like to be with guys with high character who stand for something," Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said.

Milwaukee opened the game on a 28-15 run, putting Miami on its heels from the opening minutes. DiVincenzo got the call to start for Antetokounmpo and scored eight of Milwaukee's first 16 points, Matthews had nine by the end of the quarter and the Bucks were off to a promising start.

Miami answered that start with a 30-9 run of its own, capped by three free throws from Olynyk with 4:36 left in the half for a 45-37 Heat lead.

In the end, Miami just had a bit more. They became the lowest-seeded team to make the East finals since eighth-seeded New York in 1999.

"We want people to continue to count us out," Butler said.

TIP-INS

Heat: This is Miami's seventh trip to the conference finals since 2005, the most of anyone in the East and matching the most of any team in the NBA in that span; San Antonio also has seven such trips since 2005. ... Miami survived on a night where it had 22 turnovers.

Bucks: The NBA went to the 16-team playoff format in 1984 and this is only the sixth time in those 37 seasons that the No. 1 seed did not make the East finals. ... The Bucks depart the bubble with a $2,020,431 share of the NBA's annual playoff pool. They could have split $6,827,848 if they won the title.

LOTS OF DEFENSE

Antetokounmpo didn't play and there were still three of the other nine members of the NBA's All-Defensive Team, announced earlier Tuesday, in the game. Lopez, Bledsoe and Adebayo were all second-team selections. Antetokounmpo was a first-teamer, as would be expected for the player who also won Defensive Player of the Year.

ADELMAN TRIBUTE

ODD COINCIDENCE

UP NEXT

Heat: Game 1 of the East finals vs. Toronto or Boston, TBD.

Bucks: Season complete.

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Regular Season Series

MIA wins series 2-1