LAS VEGAS – Just as the Milwaukee Bucks’ defence was taking shape and providing the foundation on which to build a winning run under new coach Doc Rivers, they collapsed 123-97 to an under-strength Miami Heat on Feb 13.
The Heat shrugged off the injury absences of Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier and Josh Richardson to produce a shooting clinic in a one-sided National Basketball Association (NBA) rout on the road at Fiserv Forum, leaving Rivers with plenty to ponder as his team prepare for the All-Star break.
Rivers took charge on Jan 26 after the shock dismissal of predecessor Adrian Griffin, with the brief of helping improve Milwaukee’s defence.
Yet it was another porous display by the Bucks, who struggled to build any kind of momentum against a well-organised Miami unit. The Bucks are now 3-6 under the new stewardship.
“Speed, pace – they were quicker on everything at both ends. You have these nights, you hate them, but it is what it is. I thought as bad as it looked defensively, I thought our offence was way worse tonight. It started early,” Rivers said.
“At half-time, I thought it was just an awful offence. Right now our team get their personality from the offensive end and we don’t want that; we want to get our personality from playing hard and doing defensive things. And tonight we didn’t do that.”
The Heat, however, were on point with their offence.
Nikola Jovic, returning to the Miami line-up having played just three minutes since Jan 27, led the Heat scorers with 24 points, including a career-high five three-pointers, while Duncan Robinson poured in six threes in his 23-point haul.
Miami shot 51.7 per cent overall, went 19 of 40 from outside the arc, with six players finishing in double figures. Tyler Herro and veteran Kevin Love scored 19 points apiece, while Bam Adebayo recorded his seventh career regular-season triple-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.
“I thought he just completely changed the game tonight with his pace,” Robinson said of Jovic, who also pulled down seven rebounds while playing 30 minutes.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee with 23 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, while three players – Malik Beasley, Damian Lillard and Bobby Portis – all finished with 16 points apiece.
The Heat maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second quarter and took a 69-52 lead into the half-time interval.
Miami, who started with their 29th different line-up in 54 games this season, closed the first half on a 7-0 run and entered the break shooting 12 of 21 (57.1 per cent) from beyond the arc and 56.3 per cent from the field.
They allowed Milwaukee to cut the deficit to 79-70 with 7min 9sec remaining in the third quarter before entering the final period with a 98-76 advantage. Herro hit a three-pointer with seven minutes left in the contest to put Miami ahead 115-84, and both teams rested their starters in the final minutes.
Miami, beaten by the Denver Nuggets in last season’s NBA Finals, improved to 29-25 with the win and are seventh in the Eastern Conference standings. Milwaukee fell to 35-20 and are third in the East behind the first-place Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Over at the Barclays Centre, the Celtics stretched their unbeaten streak to five games with a 118-110 defeat of the Brooklyn Nets, with Jayson Tatum in dazzling form to finish with 41 points, 14 rebounds and five assists. Jaylen Brown added 19 points, while Al Horford and Derrick White added 16 points each as the Celtics improved to 42-12.
Mikal Bridges scored 27 points, while Cam Thomas added 26 points and Lonnie Walker IV contributed 15 for the Nets, who shot 49.4 per cent from the field.
The Celtics led from the first quarter, stretching their advantage to 23 points by the third quarter, before Brooklyn rallied in the fourth to get within six with less than three minutes remaining.
“I was just in a good rhythm,” said Tatum, who registered his 25th career 40-point game and his third of the season by shooting 14 for 26, including five for 11 from three-point range. AFP, REUTERS
