Use the heat in the second half to top the Bucks without Giannis, 108-102

Miami – Milwaukee headed to Miami to play the Heat on Thursday night and fell 108-102 as both teams were shorthanded with the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and Chris Middleton missing due to knee soreness, Joe Inglis recovering from the injury and Grayson Allen spraining his ankle.

“It was one of those games where we did some shots early, we missed some shots late, and I thought there was some back-to-back fatigue that can happen from time to time,” said Pat Connaughton. “I thought it was a little bit of everything. Some guys stepped up and played big minutes and I think that was a positive that we can take advantage of.”

The Heat was without Whitnall High School alumnus and reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro along with guards Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Duncan Robinson, big man Nikola Jovic due to injury, and Dewayne Didmon (team suspension).

The dollar fell to 15-27 while the heat improved to 20-23.

Here are some points from the game:

A crime at a premium with stars on the sidelines

Not everyone was on the bench, as Miami still had Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo while Milwaukee had Junior Holiday and Brooke Lopez starting. The quartet guarded each other for the most part, which gave the game some flair.

Holiday led the Bucks with 24 points, 11 assists and six rebounds, but Lopez struggled with his shooting, going 2-for-12 for six points. On the other hand, Adebayo scores 24 on 11 of 19 shots while Butler scores 17 in large part due to his 7-for-8 performance at the free throw line. Holiday helped upset him on 5 of 13 shooting and four turnovers.

Neither team hit the ball well (40.2% for Milwaukee and 44.2% for Miami) so the Heat’s ability to preserve possessions with offensive rebounds, resulting in 22 second chance points, proved the difference. Miami also got a boost from Gabe Vincent, who scored a season-high 28 points. Max Stross had a season-high 10 rebounds for 12 points and Victor Oladipo had 14 off the bench.

For the Bucks, eight players scored with Jevon Carter (18 points), Jordan Nora (16), AJ Green (15) and Bobby Portis (12) reaching double figures, but the final three didn’t get there until the fourth quarter when the game was decided. Rookie Margoun Beauchamp got the start but was 0 for 3 and didn’t affect the scoreboard. Pat Connaughton was 3-for-10 with 9 points.

Milwaukee scored a season-high 57 three-point attempts, but Miami outscored the Bucks 95 to 87 thanks to offensive rebounds, along with the Bucks’ 11.

“They were breaking glass really hard,” Carter said. “We were undermanned tonight, the guys had to play a little differently in terms of boxing, going for help and rebounding, and like tonight, the rebounds went their way. Give them credit.”

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Bucks turned competitiveness to start the journey

Time will tell if the 29-point loss to Charlotte on January 6 will be a turning point for the Bucks’ regular season, but their victory in Atlanta was their second in a row and once again demonstrated a high level of competitiveness for a team that has been listed since a 9-0 start to the season. It wasn’t necessarily the way dollar coins were wanted His bid came after the Hawks erased a 24-point deficit to briefly take the lead, but it made an impact nonetheless.

And if a 17-point comeback win in New York to open this wild ride is one of the things the Bucks need, said head coach Mike Budenholzer, a win over the Hawks has always been a positive reinforcement for a team still trying. to find out who they are.

square score: Heat 108 bucks 102

“I think overall this wild ride is a good way (to re-establish),” Pat Connaughton told the Journal Sentinel before the Hawks game. “For us, it’s a great wild ride to kind of show, what are we made of now at this time of the season and how do we turn that page to a place where we feel more like ourselves? Win or lose or draw is going to be, I think, designed and tested and we’ll figure it out based on that.” The way we play, like, what we’re doing that puts steps in the right direction in terms of who we are, our competitive juice, our edge, our chip on our shoulders.”

The victory in Atlanta over the Bucks 27-14 at the halfway point of their season put them in third place in the Eastern Conference. It’s one game better this turn of the year than it was a year ago (26-15).

At the halfway point of the truncated championship season, the Bucks’ winning percentage was lower (61.1%) at 22-14.

“I definitely understand that. I understand that,” Jrue Holiday said of feeling the team was not living up to expectations. What are we third? The year we won we were third, right? Thinking about it, well, it’s not always the top seed or the second seed that wins the tournament. Usually the third seed is good too.

“There are a lot of good teams in the NBA. The gap isn’t that big anymore. You’ve got six to eight strong teams that can make it to the end. And I think this playoff series is obviously going to be competitive. General. I feel like from the time we won until now Teams just got better.

“So it’s just something we really have to lock in and go out every game and try to win every game that day. I feel like I always give us grace. It’s still really early. Now if this is happening at the end of the season, maybe that’s something we’ve figured out.” Really quick (he snapped his fingers to confirm) but now I think we’re still positive and we have that positive mentality and we know we’re really good.”

Wednesday showed that, as the Bucks drove as many as 24 in the first half thanks to two areas: rebounding and three-point shooting. The Bucks rebounded off the Hawks 32-20 for a 67-46 halftime lead. They also restricted the Falcons to only two offensive rebounds and three second chance points.

But the Bucks also saw that impressive lead fade, as did its 21-point fourth-quarter margin on Jan. 4 in Toronto. However, just like in that match, they finally found a way to win.

“It’s good practice for us,” Giannis Antetokounmpo said after the match in Atlanta. “It’s good to see a lot of pictures – we see a lot of situations.” “We were 17, we were able to come back, we were 24, they came back, we were still able to win the game. It’s good to put ourselves in those positions. Obviously it would be good not to get into the situation until you win the game and to be 24 and stretch The difference to 30 and sit down and prepare for the next game, but sometimes it’s good because it’s going to happen. It’s going to happen, and when it happens again, we’ve experienced this, we’ve been through that situation.”

Five numbers

1 The Heat Bucks posted their first loss in the second game of the season. Milwaukee is now 4-1 in the back end back-to-back.

4-3 Dollars score when Antetokounmpo did not play.

7 Miami missed consecutive threes to open the game, helping the Bucks take a 26-14 lead early in the second quarter. Gabe Vincent hit the first Heat at 11:05 of the second quarter.

12-2 Run by the Heat to close out the third quarter and open up the fourth quarter, allowing them to take an 85-73 lead with 10:48 to go in the game. With no shots falling on the Bucks, the run would prove to be the difference in the game.

“We went out to start the fourth quarter with a turnover and I think a layup (for Miami), I can’t remember what happened to our next possession (three misses) but there was, I thought, kind of extended three quarters of the way through the third quarter where they got a little break, By five or eight points, maybe it was only three, but they got a bit of a breakaway and we had a bad start to the fourth quarter,” Budenholzer said from the key stretch. “Sales (by Nwora) stands out to me, but it’s down a fast 10.”

15 The Bucks built a point lead in the first half, which the Heat edged out to take a 45–43 lead on two Butler free throws with 45 seconds remaining in the half. Portis tied the game shortly afterwards.

Playing the game is to hit Pat Connaughton in the face with a drink

The Bucks winger is known for having blood and bruises on his face, but in Miami, he took a shot in the face—perhaps literally—on the first play of the game when he fell onto the stadium benches and got a drink in his eye. After drying, he made only one of three free throws.

“I fell in love with the guy,” Connaughton said, “and the tequila sip flopped into his hands and went into my eyes.” “I smelled like tequila the whole game. I probably still smell like tequila. My jersey is definitely on. I was burning. I don’t drink so I don’t know what it was. It was in my eyes and it wasn’t where it was supposed to be.” I hadn’t seen that before. It wasn’t good for my free throws right after that, but I was trying.”

The video game is Jevon Carter’s Deep Three

The Bucks guard is known for his tireless defense, but he was sometimes needed to advance as an offensive player and that was the case on Thursday. He helped keep the Bucks in the game with a smooth three-point shot against the Heat, including this 28-footer in the third quarter.

Carter finished the game 6-for-14 from behind the three-point line. A 4-for-7 shooting night followed from behind the arc in Atlanta. His 21 triples in two games were a focus point by Bucks coaches, who wanted Carter to look for his shot more.

“Very. Number one priority,” he said. “They tell me to be aggressive, and they need me to be aggressive. And that’s what I do. Just look at the edge every time I grab it, honestly. If I can get it off, they want me to shoot it. It’s really that simple.”

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