The Miami Heat scored arguably their most substantial win of the season by defeating the Milwaukee Bucks on the road, 123-97, on Tuesday evening at the Fiserv Forum.
Playing without Jimmy Butler (personal reasons), Terry Rozier (knee), and Josh Richardson (shoulder), Miami leaned on superb defensive principles and outstanding shooting from deep to score their first victory of the season against Milwaukee, who won the first two matchups.
Nikola Jovic had the best game of his young NBA career, Bam Adebayo recorded his seventh career triple-double, and Miami converted 19-of-40 from deep to lead from start to finish and win every quarter against a Milwaukee squad that’s now 3-6 under new head coach Doc Rivers.
Jovic just had the best game of his career (24-7-3 on 8/14 FGs). Set the tone early, allowing Miami to build a lead. Played excellent with Bam, who had a trip-dub.
This is the Heat’s frontcourt of the future. It’s time to ride it. The versatility & potential are too good.
— Naveen Ganglani (@naveenganglani) February 14, 2024
Bam picks up the ball after Giannis loses it, brings it down the court, then finds Love on the easy lay-up for his 7th career triple double.
Adebayo now with 16 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists on 8-14 shooting. Not to mention exceptional defense. pic.twitter.com/rUJ5VUb0Wt
— Naveen Ganglani (@naveenganglani) February 14, 2024
Duncan Robinson against the Bucks (after the Jaylen Brown “confrontation”):
23 points
5 assists
3 rebounds
2 steals
8-12 FGs
6-8 3PT
+24HOOPER. pic.twitter.com/JJiEAuTNuF
— Naveen Ganglani (@naveenganglani) February 14, 2024
Duncan Robinson also had a remarkable performance while Tyler Herro and Kevin Love, who each had 19 markers, contributed wining plays to help the Heat improve to 29-25. Jaime Jaquez Jr. pitched in 12 points off the bench.
The Bucks were playing on the second night of a back-to-back after beating defending champion Denver and didn’t have Khris Middleton but couldn’t get within striking distance of Miami even with the availability of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and Brook Lopez.
Milwaukee was limited to only 45% shooting and 18 turnovers while Miami knocked in 52% of their attempts.
Spo: “Niko was very good tonight. The points will make everyone notice, but he generates more inertia for our team in transition, for sure. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that. In his stint as a starter 3 weeks ago, those were very important games for us…” pic.twitter.com/rHVtgKQLVn
— Naveen Ganglani (@naveenganglani) February 14, 2024
Jovic went back on the court to work with the Heat staff, per Spo
“He’s been very dedicated. I see a maturity & growth from last yr to this yr. Even handling when we get guys back & not getting discouraged/working, he’d continue to work… when guys do that, things change.” pic.twitter.com/reF7OJc7cz
— Naveen Ganglani (@naveenganglani) February 14, 2024
Spo on Bam:
“Bam takes the challenge every single night against the best offensive players. He plays in a lot of different schemes for us… on the other side, he was so essential for us. The playmaking, relief baskets from his passing were critical.” pic.twitter.com/lZ728LCmZ3
— Naveen Ganglani (@naveenganglani) February 14, 2024
Miami won for the fifth time in their last 7 games after dropping 7 consecutive losses in a tough January slate. Tuesday’s contest was the first of six consecutive games on the road for the Heat that will be back in action on Valentine’s Day against the Joel Embiid-less 76ers. That will be Miami’s last matchup before the All-Star break, after which they will play four more on the road.
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Sweet win.
We left piles of burnt rubber all over the Buck’s court and probably all over the Buck’s players and coaching staff as well.
They never knew what hit them.
Now they have to take all their dirty laundry to the dry cleaners to get all that burnt rubber stains out. And that sht ain’t coming out.
We went bigger and played better.
Size matters.
How about that Jovic eh?
I’m the biggest Jovic supporter there is and like I said on here many times, Pat would have to be crazy to trade this kid.
To much size and skill to just trade away.
That Niko, Bam, Jaime frontcourt has a 5.4 plus/minus rating together.
The best among their age group by a mile.
That’s the Heat’s future frontcourt.
Can you dig it?
We struck gold with both Niko and Jaime late in the draft.
2-3 years from now all these teams that passed on Niko and Jaime are going to be kicking themselves in the nuts with steel toe boots.
Lets keep the vibes going with a win tonight against Philly.
Now that was fun and a great reminder to never count this team out until it happens. Every season brings a new wrinkle from Spo at some point, and we have gotten a glimpse of post-All Star break vibes.
Only a half game out of 6th with the Pacers playing the Raptors. How sweet would it be to beat the 76ers, which is always sweet, and go into the All-Star break with a completely different vibe than what we felt when we watched Rozier on the ground writhing in pain just after Jrich was injured?
Anyone notice the positive vibes in the thread last night? Hmm. I wonder why. Let’s go HEAT!
Almost forgot…I thought Herro+Dunc wouldn’t work? They’re even starters 😳🤯
Either their defenses (sic) are excellent (tongue in cheek) or Celtics offense is terribly poor, they have to take a look at the buy out market to improve their offense and defense. Oh, I forgot, Middleton didn’t play.
Hehehe!
I was going to say the same thing!
They need to watch more films and practice more, to get beyond the sky. As NASA has proven, there is an endless world out beyond. The sky is no longer the limit. Being an Alien, I know that for a fact, lol!
Congrats to the Heat, outstanding effort. The team showed a lot of heart in not backing down despite missing so many players. So many players played great but Jovic, Dunc, Bam, KLove, Jaimie and Ty all were outstanding. And, for those who believed in the players, and particularly Jovic, thanks for your wisdom with your comments.
Please say that last part again and again . It is music to my ears.
I just hope you will also be as magnanimous in your comments. It’s a long season and with the Heat there will always be plenty of twists and turns. But, we are all on the same team with a shared love for our Heat, even though we sometimes disagree on how to win.
Hehehe, why spoil the fun . Knew it wouldn’t last. Reason why I asked you to put on repeat. Thanks again.
That was me trying to be nice. If Jovic really is an unpolished gem, then those who saw it deserve kudos. The road to becoming an nba player has its ups and downs, no matter how good the player may become. I’m hoping he becomes a solid player too.
Incredible game.
We looked like midgets against Boston, and like giants against Bucks.
Must be somehow relating with playing Jovic along Bam.
Who would have thought.
Breakthrough game for a kid.
Not to jump ahead of myself, I am excited about the future.
This, to me, was an Oregoner/Alien game in that, sometimes the best move to make is no move at all. Now that doesn’t mean I don’t think we should add a low cost player in the buyout market, but it did illustrate the quality of players already on the roster.
To borrow your own words, ” I know you will eventually come around”, 😆!
Don’t know if anyone is reading this thread now, but for the record, I never said that. Somebody may have said it, but it wasn’t me. I generally state my own thoughts on players and don’t try to convince others to agree with me.
I can not believe that HH and Caleb both scored 2 pts in about 20 minutes apiece. It shows how impactful a player can be in many other ways without scoring much pts. Bravo to you two 👏.
Jovic congratulations! You are saying ‘ Look at me, I am your big or PF, if you are looking for one ‘ lol!
For Jovic, this is the kind of game that makes Doc Rivers shake his head in wonder and ask, ” where to they find these guys”?
This was everything I want to see from the Heat. I can’t say it was my favorite game of the season, but only because I don’t remember every game. Jovic got the start, Love and Jamie got subbed in early, and the Heat had 9 assists in the first 8 minutes. After that it was just one long Super Bowl Halftime Show. The Heat were roller skating all over the Bucks.
One more thing to add, and anyone that knows me knows what I’m going to say. 34 assists tonight. The Heat are something like 12-1 when they have 30+ assists. And when Jovic, Jamie, and Love are all playing, the ball movement is always beautiful. I don’t see how Spo can keep Jovic out of the rotation after what we saw tonight
Spo has a huge selection problem. Don’t forget Butler, Terry and JRich are coming back. A good problem for that.
The future looks bright. Very bright. Impressive big win vs a so called contender. Lets do this again next against sixers before a long needed rest at the allstar game. Nico big confidence booster. Dunc yard dog ballin. Bam triple doubling. KLove made them pay. Tyler…his usual lol. JJJ also contributed well. I was hoping Alondes scored so everyone has pts. But I guess next game. Go Heat!!
Are we still going to trade every one including the arena or should we wait, lol!
Haha…not Heat’s M.O. thank God. Miami develop players way better than 90% of NBA teams. We just wait…those “star players” will request south beach again and again lol
The future looks real bright for the Heat.
Great game. I think Spo just found another rotation player in Jovic. He just has to continue playing to his strengths and minimizing his mistakes. His defense will be a work in progress. The problem with not playing very oiften is that guys try to do everything at once to impress the coaches and get more playing time. As a result, they often make mistakes and look like liabilities on the court. That happened tonight with Swider, Orlando and Alondes. They’ll get more chances to impress before long. Miami will probably need to pick someone off buyout list to complete the squad for the playoffs. On to Philly tomorrow.
GO HEAT!!!