Milwaukee vs. Miami: Bucks Flattened In South Beach

The Milwaukee Bucks saw their modest winning streak come to an end on Monday night at the hands of the every so pesky Miami Heat, 105-89.

The first quarter was a preview of what was to come throughout Monday night’s loss - the Heat taking, and making a LOT of three-pointers. It was Kelly Olynyk who got the party started in the first by making a handful of three’s before passing the torch over to Jae Crowder.

Yep. It was that kind of night defensively.

As for the Bucks, their offense was horrendous. Credit to Miami, though, as they were the more physical team from the opening tip. They successfully negated Giannis Antetokounmpo’s impact and forced other Bucks to make shots. It just was not happening.

Three Observations

Giannis Antetokounmpo settled for too many jumpers last night for my liking.

As stated above, the Heat did a good job at walling off Giannis from getting to the rim, but he was forcing the jumper and it was NOT there. I love attempting to shoot, but he fell in love with it early in the first. He gets a pass though after his heroic effort on Sunday in Milwaukee’s victory over the Hornets in Charlotte, though. Giannis finished with only 13 points and 15 rebounds while making only 6-of-18 shots from the field in 31 minutes.

Donte DiVincenzo provided the Bucks with a much-needed shot in the arm.

He came in off the bench and defended well while making his shots and being aggressive on the offensive boards. While he finished the game minus-10, do not let that fool you, without his impact, this game would have been much worse. I loved how aggressive Donte was at driving towards the basket and even had a strong driving finish over Jimmy Butler at one point. His finishing has been better as of late and he is slashing to the rim with confidence. He ended the night contributing 11 points, five rebounds, three assists, and one block in 27 minutes. The leap he has made from a lost rookie campaign has been remarkable.

Eric Bledsoe was :(

After a string of fantastic games coming out of the all-star break, Milwaukee’s point guard has stumbled the last two contests. We’ve seen this become a theme with Bledsoe, where he will take three steps forwards and then take three steps backward. I am not sure if it is the stomach bug that has him ailing, but he was a complete non-factor last night. He played only 21 minutes and had seven points and four assists. Just a weird game. He was also burned on defense multiple times, too. Let’s hope that this is just a hiccup in what has been a resurgent second half of the season thus far.

Bonus Bits

• Aside from Donte, Brook Lopez was a huge bright spot for Milwaukee. He dropped 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting while stonewalling Miami multiple times in the paint. Unfortunate that the Bucks lost a great effort by BroLo.
• Khris Middleton was supremely rusty in his return from a brief absence as he could only muster 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting.
• Wesley Matthews...oof. What much is there to say about his offensive performance last night? Although, I did love his hustle on the defensive end of the floor.
• The Bucks finished with 40.7/20.6/63.2 shooting splits. Oops.
• On the other hand, the Heat made 18 three-pointers. I am seeing a theme, here.