Bucks drop from fourth to sixth in East, Heat gets home court

The Milwaukee Bucks took a big fall, with the Miami Heat gleefully watching from afar.

On a night when matchups for seven of eight first-round playoff series were determined, Milwaukee gave up a late 3-pointer to Jalen Rose and lost to the Toronto Raptors 89-87.

“That’s my dawg!” Miami guard Dwyane Wade hollered in the Heat’s locker room in South Florida, watching the game in Wisconsin on television.

Moments later, Milwaukee’s final shot missed, and Heat players swapped high-fives as though they’d won the game themselves.

The Bucks’ loss, coupled with Miami’s 96-84 victory over New Jersey 30 minutes earlier, meant the Heat will open a best-of-seven series at home Sunday night against fifth-seeded New Orleans.

Milwaukee dropped to sixth, falling into a first-round matchup with the third-seeded Detroit Pistons.

New Orleans, which defeated Washington 94-78, will be the fifth seed, and the New York Knicks get the seventh seed and a matchup with their cross-river rivals, the New Jersey Nets.

The East’s other postseason matchup is top-seeded Indiana against Boston.

The order of the top four seeds in the Western Conference also was to be determined Wednesday night.

In an early game, Minnesota locked up the No. 1 seed with a 107-90 victory over Memphis, setting up a first-round series against Denver. The defending champion San Antonio Spurs will be the third seed and will face Memphis, a team that defeated them three times during the regular season.

The Sacramento Kings needed a victory over Golden State to win the Pacific Division and the conference’s No. 2 seed. If the Kings lost and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated Portland, the Lakers would win the division and knock the Kings to fourth.