Jimmy Butler: Heat 'Relaxed a Little Bit' After Giannis Left Game 4 with Injury

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo left Sunday's Game 4 win in the second quarter after injuring his right ankle, and Jimmy Butler said the Miami Heat lost their edge after he went out.

"Well, it shouldn't affect [our play], but I think that we relaxed a little bit," he told reporters. "And we stopped playing basketball the right way. We stopped guarding. We stopped living by our defensive principles. We weren't getting 50-50 balls. We were getting out-rebounded. It was just all bad."

Bam Adebayo concurred.

"I feel like we played like we were up 3-0," he said. "That's not giving enough effort, not sacrificing our body, and we ended up losing because we were up 3-0. They're a good team. So at the end of the day, we should have played like we were in Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3 ... I feel like we didn't play a maximum effort the whole game."

Miami still holds a 3-1 lead in the series, and the status of Antetokounmpo going forward is unclear. The Heat have done a brilliant job of stifling the defending MVP thus far, holding him to an average of 22 points in their three wins. The Greek Freak was dominant in limited minutes Sunday, however, with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting in 11 minutes.

With Antetokounmpo out of action, Khris Middleton carried the torch, going off for 36 points—including 21 in the third quarter and nine in overtime—to save Milwaukee's season.

Perhaps a defense geared up to slow down Antetokounmpo struggled without its focal point. Perhaps Miami simply lost its focus, period.

"We didn't have the mentality just to take the win," Heat forward Jae Crowder said. "I don't know if Giannis going out was a dictative factor for us, but we just didn't have the same mentality."

Game 5 is Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. ET on TNT.