Milwaukee Bucks snag 1-seed with comeback win over Heat

The Milwaukee Bucks secured the 1-seed out East with a big comeback win.

It was only a matter of time before the Milwaukee Bucks officially secured the top spot in the Eastern Conference standings, given that they entered the NBA restart with a massive lead over the rest of the field. It would have taken an epic collapse for them to fall to No. 2 in the East.

However, the league-best Bucks finally locked down that 1-seed on Thursday in dramatic fashion, storming back from a 23-point deficit against the Miami Heat to finish with a 130-116 victory against a team they could very well see in the playoffs at some point.

Despite trailing 73-56 at halftime, Milwaukee rallied behind its two best players in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton. The Greek Freak finished with 33 points, 12 rebounds and four assists on 13-of-17 shooting, while his All-Star teammate added 33 points, eight assists and six boards on 9-of-14 shooting.

Even better, Giannis only logged 30 minutes and Middleton only played 34 as the Bucks outscored Miami by a massive 74-43 margin in the second half.

The Milwaukee Bucks have the 1-seed and now need to pace themselves.

This was already the case, with head coach Mike Budenholzer pacing his team by way of reduced minutes. But now that the Bucks have officially put the Toronto Raptors in their rearview mirror for that No. 1 seed, they can coast through their last four seeding games.

These games will be all about guys staying in shape, avoiding injury and getting back into as smooth a rhythm as possible, especially when it comes to the guys who recently rejoined the team like Eric Bledsoe and Pat Connaughton.

Was the comeback win really all that impressive? Considering the Heat stormed out to such a big lead in a game where they were missing Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic, not really. Even so, it served as a reminder of what the Bucks’ two best players are capable of. With the 1-seed locked up, they should be well-rested come playoff time, and that’s bad news for the rest of the league.