The Miami Heat travel to Milwaukee for the penultimate game of their five-game road trip to take on the Bucks Sunday evening inside Fiserv Forum.
The Heat snapped a four-game losing streak Friday against the Toronto Raptors in overtime, winning 120-111. Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins and Bam Adebayo led the way, scoring 72 of the team’s points that evening, including all 13 in the extra period, where they outscored Toronto 13-4.
The Bucks have secured victories in both of their two games exiting the All-Star break against the Los Angeles Clippers and Washington Wizards, respectively. Friday’s game against Washington also marked the return of forward Kyle Kuzma, who Milwaukee acquired ahead of the deadline along with Jericho Sims in exchange for Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson and a 2028 first-round pick swap. In the Bucks’ three-point win, Kuzma tallied a team-high 19 points and eight rebounds on 8-of-19 shooting.
The Bucks have bested the Heat in each of their two previous meetings this season, including a 125-96 rout on Jan. 23 in Milwaukee. Kel’el Ware scored a team-high 22 points with 10 rebounds while Tyler Herro finished with 21 points and nine assists across 32 minutes. For more on that recap, click here.
The Heat is currently tied for the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference at 26-29, tied with the Orlando Magic despite being two ahead in the loss column. They are three back of the Detroit Pistons for the No. 6 seed and 4.5 games back of the Bucks for the No. 5 seed. Thus, their margin for error will continue to shrink over the next 28 games if they hope to avoid the play-in for the third straight season.
Do you think Miami will ride its momentum from Friday into Sunday? Let us know in the comments!
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Tyler Herro (shoulder soreness) — PROBABLE
- Kevin Love (personal reasons) — OUT
- Keshad Johnson (G-League) — OUT
- Josh Christopher (G-League) — OUT
- Isaiah Stevens (G-League) — OUT
- Dru Smith (Achilles) — OUT
Milwaukee Bucks
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf) — PROBABLE
- Pat Connaughton (calf) — OUT
- Damian Lillard (hamstring) — PROBABLE
- Bobby Portis (suspension) — OUT
- Taurean Prince (ankle) — PROBABLE
- Gary Trent Jr. (knee) — PROBABLE
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Davion Mitchell, G
- Tyler Herro, G
- Andrew Wiggins, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
- Kel’el Ware, C
Toronto Raptors:
- Damian Lillard, G
- AJ Green, G
- Kyle Kuzma, F
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, F
- Brook Lopez, C
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 6:00 PM EST
- TV: Fanduel Sports Network Sun (Eric Reid & John Crotty)
- Radio: AM 560 Sports WQAM & The HEAT Radio Network (Jason Jackson)
- Spanish Radio: WAQI 710 AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda)
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One game at a time. Looking forward to seeing the new players continue to integrate with the rest of the team. Bucks will be without a couple of rotation players so that should help, especially on the boards.
What’s going on with Love? Many absences due to personal reasons this season. I wonder if he will be a buyout candidate this summer?
Jaquez, Highsmith and Larsson look like they are in danger of dropping out of the 10 man rotation. Current rotation looks like: Ware, Bam, Wiggins, Herro, Mitchell, Robinson, Jovic, Rozier and possibly Burks and Anderson. Rozier is on the short list to be benched too if he doesn’t get his game together.
time to get a meaning full win