Perfect against the Best: Miami Heat maul Milwaukee

The Miami Heat played the best team in the NBA Monday night and got the win in commanding fashion, 105-89.

Here’s what happened…

The Heat came into this game off of back to back wins against Dallas and Brooklyn. With the Heat gaining the confidence that they played with earlier in the season, a win against Milwaukee would help it even more. The Heat were 1-0 with Milwaukee prior to this game.

Nunn and Jimmy came out aggressive to start the first. This is what Miami wants Jimmy to do every night, especially against a team like the Bucks. Nunn and Jimmy each had 8 points on 3/5 shooting. Kelly Olynyk ended the first quarter strong for the Heat going 2 for 2 from three, which lifted the Heat to a 31-26 lead at the end of the first.

The second quarter was more of a defensive battle with the Heat going through a bit of a cold stretch. The only guy who was the complete opposite of cold in the second quarter was Jae Crowder. Crowder hit 4 second quarter threes, and ended the first half with 5. A complete recap of this first half was one word, threes. The Heat scored 33 of their 53 first half points from beyond the arc. The Heat took a 53-52 lead at the half.

After a scoreless first half from Goran Dragic and Duncan Robinson, they started to settle down in the third quarter. They each hit 3 threes in the third quarter for the Heat. This helped Miami take a 81-70 lead over the Bucks, holding them to only 18 in the third.

The fourth quarter was just a recap of all the other quarter, defense and shooting. Bam finally got going in the fourth quarter after having a tough game scoring the basketball. He scored 8 fourth quarter points, while Jimmy and Dragic combined for 16 fourth quarter points. This led Miami to a 105-89 win over Milwaukee to go 2-0 with them on the season.

Miami generally wins games against better teams, most likely since they’re more aggressive against those teams. Being at home also helps our odds in which our defense plays significantly better at home. This proved true while the Heat held Antetokounmpo to only 13 points in the game. He also had a -16 rating while the rest of the Bucks team also had a negative rating. This was big win for the Heat, but it might’ve been a bigger win for the 2021 free agency. This was just a sample of what a polished Miami Heat defense looks like which should be intriguing for a player like Giannis.