Despite one of Tyler Herro’s best performances of the season, the Miami Heat blew another fourth-quarter lead Sunday evening to the Milwaukee Bucks, losing 120-113.
The Heat opened the fourth quarter up 93-85, though a 15-2 spurt over the first three minutes gave Milwaukee the five-point lead, their biggest up to that point.
Miami tied it on four different occasions throughout the quarter, but couldn’t capture the lead back. Giannis Antetokounmpo’s driving layup over Kel’el Ware followed by Brook Lopez’s dunk gave the Bucks a 116-109 lead 2:03 left, essentially putting the game out of reach.
Herro was spectacular the entire night and the primary reason the Heat were able to keep it tight late. The first-time All-Star tied a season-high in scoring with 40 points–his third 40-point game this season–on 12-of-27 shooting and 13-of-14 from the free-throw line. He eclipsed his previous season-high in free-throw attempts (12) and makes (10) set on Jan. 13 against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Herro also registered a game-high 11 assists and seven rebounds across 40 minutes, but it ultimately wasn’t enough.
Bam Adebayo finished with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting with seven rebounds while Andrew Wiggins scored 20 points on 7-of-20 shooting with six rebounds and four assists. Adebayo became the franchise’s second-leading rebounder, passing Alonzo Mourning.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard tallied 23 and 28 points, respectively. Lillard’s was a team-high, while Antetokounmpo hauled down a team-most 16 rebounds with seven assists, one block and one steal.
Gary Trent Jr. had 16 points on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range; Kyle Kuzma had 16 points while Brook Lopez recorded 17 points–both appearing in 34 minutes apiece.
Miami’s fourth-quarter woes are a culmination of the team’s recent struggles to begin the quarter. They build a lead before it crumbles at the start of the period, where it’s unable to swing the momentum pendulum back in its favor regardless of what the deficit is.
Sunday’s loss drops the Heat back to 26-29 and four games behind the Detroit Pistons, who own the No. 6 seed in the East. They are also 8-20 against teams with a winning record, tied with the Orlando Magic for the fourth-worst in the Eastern Conference.
Miami looks to close the road trip on the right note Monday against the Atlanta Hawks, the first of two against them this week.
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Good news!
For once, the Heat never looked undersized to the Bucks.
Maybe Heat really secretly tanking? Play their game for 3 quarters then let it go in fourth 🤔🙄
You can be good enough to beat Toronto in OT, but not good enough to hold a fourth quarter lead against the Bucks. These outcomes are likely, almost predictable. We still have some team building to do.