A late Heat check
Giannis leads Bucks’ comeback from 23-point deficit to knock off short-handed Miami squad
For a moment, as they moved to a 23-point second-quarter lead, it appeared the Miami Heat again had the Milwaukee Bucks’ number.
Then the numbers game caught up to Erik Spoelstra’s team.
Playing in the injury absences of Jimmy
Butler and Goran Dragic — the first time the Heat had been without both in the same game this season — and then with Bam Adebayo in foul trouble, the Heat blew all of that lead in falling 130-116 Thursday to the Bucks at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex.
“It’s not like we were up 40,” Spoelstra said. “The way the NBA game is now, you have to play consistently for 48 minutes. There’s going to be a lot of ebbs and flows back and forth. You have to give them credit. They stepped up their pressure.”
It was the largest victory this season by a team that had trailed by 20 or more.
“We’ve got to learn from this one,” guard Duncan Robinson said. “We have to. If we don’t, then we’re foolish.”
Ultimately unable to contain presumptive 2020 NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Heat were unable to overcome an uneven performance by Adebayo, failing to close out the three-game season sweep of the Bucks.
With both big men playing in foul trouble, picking up their fifth fouls early in the fourth quarter, Antetokounmpo finished with 33 points on 13-of-17 shooting, 12 rebounds and
four assists, Adebayo with six points 2-of-10 shooting, five rebounds and six
With Khris Middleton also scoring 33 for the Bucks, the Heat lacked enough in response.
Robinson led the Heat with 21 points, followed by Tyler Herro with 20 and Jae Crowder with 15.
Next up for the Heat is a 7:30 p.m. Saturday game against the Phoenix Suns, who are 4-0 in the fan-less bubble at Disney, amid the new coronavirus pandemic.
Five degrees of Heat from Thursday’s game: on assists.
1. A rollercoaster: For the Heat, it was a continuation of their rollercoaster week against East elite.
They overcame a 17-point deficit only to fall Monday to the Toronto Raptors, then went up 16 against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night before barely holding on. Then came Thursday.
“I also like all these emotions,” Spoelstra said. “I think it’s good for your team, particularly us. We have some young guys. The young guys were playing significant roles tonight. And, at times, they were spectacular, and, at other times, it’s part of the learning process.
2. The matchup: The focus from the outset was Adebayo against Antetokounmpo.
The Heat loaded up with a variety of defenders against Antetokounmpo, opening with Crowder and then cycling through Adebayo, Andre Iguodala and Solomon Hill.
Adebayo put the punctuation on the Heat’s 73-56 halftime lead with a 3-pointer just before the intermission buzzer. It was Adebayo’s fifth career 3-pointer, third of the season.
Adebayo was limited to 21:57 by his foul trouble, eight minutes fewer than Antetokounmpo.
“When we go through stretches when we don’t have him on the floor, we have to learn how to adjust,” Robinson said.
Rotation altered: With Butler and Dragic out, Kelly Olynyk again started alongside Adebayo, Crowder, Robinson and Kendrick Nunn.
While Derrick Jones Jr. again played as sixth man, this time Hill joined the rotation, two games after being inactive.
5. Nunn sense: Nunn converted a 3-pointer to open the scoring, end an 0-for-8 run from beyond the arc. He then created a milestone moment.
In closing with 14 points, he became the first undrafted NBA rookie to reach 1,000 points in a season during what the league terms the common draft era (since 1966).