A look at the Bucks’ plan to use Antetokounmpo on Butler. How will Heat respond in Game 2?

A significant Milwaukee Bucks adjustment from last season’s playoff series against the Heat: Put Giannis Antetokounmpo on Jimmy Butler.

For one game, the results were positive for the Bucks. With the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year defending the Heat’s best player for most of the game and going under screens in an attempt to keep him out of the paint, Butler finished Saturday’s Game 1 overtime loss with 17 points on 4-of-22 shooting from the field and 2-of-9 shooting on threes.

Butler, who averaged six shot attempts at the rim and two three-point attempts per game in the regular season, took just four shots at the rim and a season-high nine threes on Saturday. Pair 6-11 Antetokounmpo’s length with the Bucks’ paint-packing defense, and the 6-7 Butler’s usual looks around the basket weren’t there in Game 1.

“Taking what they’re giving. I may shoot nine next game as well,” Butler said of his three-point looks in advance of Game 2 on Monday (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun and TNT). “They’ll fall. I know that. Get in there, work on some touch. Touch was a little bit off. I’m cool. I think we all live with that.”

Heat knows what shots will be there vs. Bucks defense. More just have to be made in Game 2

Antetokounmpo, who is one of the NBA’s elite help defenders, only spent 10 possessions as Butler’s primary defender last postseason, according to NBA tracking stats. Milwaukee instead opted to have Antetokounmpo defend former Heat forward Jae Crowder for most of the teams’ second-round matchup last year so he could also remain in his help-side role.

Butler dominated the Bucks in that series, averaging a team-high 23.4 points while shooting 53.2 percent from the field, 5 of 11 on threes and 85.2 percent on 10.8 free-throw attempts per game.

In Game 1 on Saturday? Antetokounmpo was the primary defender on Butler for 32 possessions.

“Obviously a great player and the ball is going to be in his hands a lot, going to make a lot of plays, going to shoot it a lot,” Antetokounmpo said of Butler. “He draws a lot of attention and you’ve got to be ready to go against him. But, I love the challenge.

“Last year I didn’t have a chance to guard him and this year I have a chance to guard him, and I’m just going to try to lock in and accept the challenge.”

The Bucks’ defensive plan for Butler this year is similar to the approach the Los Angeles Lakers used when putting the 6-10 Anthony Davis on Butler in the NBA Finals last season.

Can Miami force switches to get other defenders on Butler? Can Butler attack quicker when Antetokounmpo is working to fight through the screen to avoid the switch? Adjustments will be coming from the Heat in Game 2 and beyond.

“We still want to get to our game, we still want to get Jimmy to his spots where he can be effective for our team,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after practice Sunday of adjusting to the Bucks’ decision to have Antetokounmpo defend Butler. “It does change their look and we’ll try to do some things better so we can get to our game and what we’re familiar with more often than not. And they’ll try to do things to take us off that, as well.”

There may also be room for the Heat to take advantage of the fact that Antetokounmpo isn’t lurking on the weakside waiting to block a shot. But there’s no doubt that while the Bucks’ base defense remains the same — protect the paint and force teams to beat them by making midrange shots and contested threes — the Antetokounmpo-on-Butler wrinkle does alter some things.

“It changes it quite a bit actually because Giannis is usually roaming around and being in the help defender position, which opens up a lot of threes for our four-man,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “But I think they put [Donte] DiVincenzo on our four to start and put Giannis on Jimmy. So we’ll have adjustments ready for Game 2.”

A HERRO’S HOMECOMING

Herro, who attended Whitnall High School in suburban Milwaukee, has faced his hometown Bucks in the playoffs in each of his first two NBA seasons.

But this year’s series against the Bucks is the first one that includes a trip back home to Milwaukee, as last year’s second-round playoff matchup against the Bucks came in the Walt Disney World bubble because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve been able to see my family a little bit,” Herro said after Sunday’s practice. “They were able to come and watch, which is always good. It’s always good to see some of the people I grew up with here in Milwaukee.”

Herro said his mom, Jennifer, father, Chris, and two brothers, Austin and Myles Herro, attended Game 1 at Fiserv Forum along with some of his friends.

▪ There are no new reported injuries for the Heat and Bucks after Game 1.

Victor Oladipo (season-ending knee surgery) is the only player on Miami’s injury report and Thanasis Antetokounmpo (patella tendon) is the only player on Milwaukee’s injury report for Game 2.