Did the Bucks win? or did the Heat lose last night? The Bucks won the first half. They shot lights out and embarrassed the Heat defense. They scored 65 points in the first half. But, the Heat woke up in the second half and held the Bucks to 41 points in the 2nd half. There were two possessions in the last minutes where the Heat jacked up three pointers and missed. Milwaukee had no answer on the offensive end. This was a game that I highlighted in my season preview article here on our site.
Where did Bucks win?
Jeff Green hit the shot to put the Bucks up 104-100 with 2:24 left. That was it right there. Brook Lopez made a good pass to him and the Heat were late to contest. The cliche analysis? “The Heat expended too much energy in falling behind so much and Milwaukee made the shot count.”
Look on the Milwaukee fan site here for their recap. Milwaukee went with the analytics to shoot more threes as the offensive game plan. They shot 20/42. That is very good. The Bucks record is 9-9 and they are beating good teams. The news reports from a few weeks ago about trading Lillard or Giannis is quiet for now.
Where did the Heat lose?
Pelle Larson took a three point shot with 14 seconds left on the shot clock. He had an open look (look at the video replay here on NBA.com) but with 14 seconds, the correct play was to look for a better shot. The Heat had the Bucks “on the ropes” and had suffocated them. The play-by-play announcer gave a better take than Stan Van Gundy that the Heat defense prevented Milwaukee from getting any clean looks.
Then, Tyler Herro took a three point shot with 49.8 on the clock and 13 seconds on the shot clock. TOO EARLY. Look at the replay here on NBA.com. Jimmy Butler was on the weak side and was being covered by Taurean Prince. For sure, a swing to Butler and a possible drive and foul would’ve happened. Either way, that was a bad shot selection. The Heat play at Charlotte tonight, but the lesson here is that you have to win these games.
