The Bucks top the Heat 106-103 after a double-double by Damian Lillard

On By Littum

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MIAMI – The Milwaukee Bucks dealt an unfortunate hand about an hour before they took on the Miami Heat at the Kaseya Center on Tuesday night when Giannis Antetokounmpo experienced swelling in his left knee during pregame warmups and was ruled out.

With Khris Middleton already out, all-star point guard Damian Lillard stepped up with a 37-point, 12-assist effort in 38 minutes, and the Bucks got a pair of timely three-pointers late from Brook Lopez and AJ Green to hang on after blowing a 22-point lead in the third quarter in a 106-103 win over the Heat.

Lillard scored 17 points in the first quarter and had 25 at halftime on 8-of-12 shooting, including 6 three-pointers.

“I think it was definitely important for our team,” Lillard said of the start. “Without Giannis playing, I think it’s always going to be done by committee, everybody’s going to have to do a little bit more with a hole like that in our lineup, but I know the guys are going to look to me to step up regardless it’s scoring or making the right plays or my voice being a little bit louder.

“So I knew when they said he wasn’t going to be in the lineup, I had to come out and be attack mode and just try to make things happen and just have that energy for our team from the jump.”

Milwaukee evened its record at 9-9 by winning its fifth straight game. It was also the Bucks’ seventh win in their last eight games. Miami fell to 7-8.

“I’m not going to say an accomplishment (getting to .500), I’m just going to say being 2-8 and not feeling good about it and our team staying together, continuing to fight the game and looking at ourselves in the mirror on what do we need to get better at, what do we need to do to change it, and we’ve done that,” Lillard said. “It’s not something we look at and celebrate, but I think the fact that we’re going in the right direction with the way we’re playing.

“We beat good teams. We win at home. We win on the road in the game like tonight without Giannis, the way we do it is sustainable. And it shows that we are doing what we wanted to do during the season, so it’s definitely positive.”

The game came down to the final seconds when the Bucks committed a shot clock violation with 5.0 seconds left when the ball didn’t quite get out of Green’s hands in time for what would have been a massive late three-point effort, which gave the Warm the ball with a chance to win 104-103.

After the game, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers took ownership of it by saying he told Lillard to start the game late on the clock.

“I’m kicking myself for saying six o’clock (seconds left) because I wanted to slow down the clock and usually I go at eight and eight would have been perfect,” Rivers said. “But we told AJ you’re going to be the last option, that ball is going to find you in the corner and you’re going to be open. It happened. Unfortunately, we needed that one second. But he was ready for it.”

On the Heat’s first play out of the timeout, which began with five seconds left, Rivers took Lillard and Pat Connaughton off the court to pick up Gary Trent Jr. and Taurean Prince to play with Andre Jackson Jr., Brook Lopez and Green. Tyler Herro made a potential game-winning three-pointer with 3.2 seconds left, but the ball rolled out and Prince grabbed the rebound. He was fouled and made two free throws to go up 106-103 with 1.2 seconds left.

BOX SCORE: Bucks 106, Heat 103

Rivers kept that group on the floor for the final 1.2 seconds, just as Duncan Robinson put the ball in front of the Milwaukee bench. Green and Jackson had a miscommunication and both left Terry Rozier open from 32 feet, but his game-tying attempt was not close.

“I didn’t see it, I just know there’s no way Rozier would be that open,” Rivers acknowledged. “I know that. He caught it with his back to the basket, that’s why he had to turn and dribble.”

The Bucks also improved to 3-0 in the Emirates Cup pool, while the Heat dropped to 1-2 in East Group B action.

Lopez scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting (including 3 for 3 from behind the three-point arc), and Green scored nine points starting in place of Antetokounmpo.

“It just opens up the floor so much for us,” Lopez said of Green. “Obviously, Miami did a great job, they scramble, they play as one defensively, they always have each other’s backs, so to be ready off the ball, move like that, and have the confidence to take that shot and make that, he’s been so impressive all season.”

Bobby Portis Jr. scored 11 points off the bench on 5-of-15 shooting. Connaughton scored 10 points off the bench in his first action since November 16.

Butler led the Heat with 23 points on 6-of-12 shooting, and he was also 11-of-13 from the free throw line. Bam Adebayo scored 16 points. Whitnall High School alum Herro had 18 and Rozier scored 17 off the bench.

Did you notice that?

During a timeout late in the first quarter, Rivers and assistant coach Greg Buckner stood together near the scorer’s table for a brief conversation. The coaching pair looked down the bench. They called on MarJon Beauchamp for his first rotation minutes of the season to team with Delon Wright, Gary Trent Jr., Connaughton and Portis to help the Bucks preserve an 11-point lead.

They did so in the last 47 seconds of the period.

And then Rivers sent out the same group to open the second quarter, and for 4:06 they held that 11-point advantage before Lillard and Lopez settled in. Beauchamp hit a three-point corner and was physical and aggressive on defense, and Portis also knocked down a couple of shots.

It was the first time the lineup played together this season.

Their play helped the Bucks take a 65-51 halftime lead.

“It builds your team, it really does,” Rivers said of the collective effort the Bucks have used to win games without their stars. “I keep going back to the start of the season where we were struggling and trying to find the right rotation and the right guys, some guys lost their minutes, some guys earned their minutes, but everybody kept working. It showed today. Pat Connaughton can’t have played he had today if he hadn’t worked, who hasn’t played at all, couldn’t have done it if he hadn’t worked for sure.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo ruled out late with knee swelling

After his pregame warmups, Antetokounmpo was downgraded to questionable for the game with left knee fluid, which is another way of saying swelling. He was banned almost immediately after. It’s a new injury for him, and one that’s different than the one he entered the day with, which was a left calf strain.

Antetokounmpo was initially expected to play with a left calf strain, the first time he has been listed with that injury this season. Antetokounmpo suffered a strain in his soleus muscle in his left calf on April 9, which not only ended his regular season but kept him out of the postseason. When asked if there was any concern about the first injury, Rivers said: “No, no, I mean, listen to how he plays and how he operates, there’s going to be things like this and when they come, you just have to deal with them.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo named player of the week in the Eastern Conference

A new week of games began for the Bucks on Tuesday, but Antetokounmpo was recognized by the league for the 24th time.th time as the Eastern Conference’s MVP after leading the Bucks to a 4-0 record from 18-24. November. During that stretch, Antetokounmpo averaged 32.5 points per game. game on 61% shooting. He also pulled down 10.3 rebounds and dished out 7.3 assists per game.

He also set an NBA record that week, passing Adrian Dantley for most 40-point games on 70% shooting for a career with his 21Stand scored 41 points on 70.8% shooting against Chicago.

Five numbers

  • 1-1: Bucks’ record without Antetokounmpo this season. They lost 116-114 in Cleveland on Nov. 4 when he was out with an adductor strain.
  • 4: Double-doubles in points and assists for Lillard in his last five games after scoring 37 points and dishing out 12 assists. He had not recorded a double-double in his first 10 games.
  • 7-0: Milwaukee’s combined bowl game record the past two seasons.
  • 29: Positive point differential for the Bucks in East Group B, giving them an advantage over the Pistons (2-0) when the teams play each other in the pool-play finale on Dec. 3 in Detroit.
  • 62: Regular season games Khris Middleton must play this season to earn a bonus of $1,666,667. By missing Tuesday’s game against Miami, the Bucks have just 64 regular season games remaining. An important note: It does whether Middleton earns this bonus not affect the team’s position in the second place, only their end of the season luxury tax bill. All bonuses, earned or not, count towards a team’s seeding total.

What channel is Bucks on?

Since the contest is an Emirates Cup game, the Bucks will tip off at 6:30pm CT and the game will be televised nationally on TNT. Ian Eagle, Stan Van Gundy and Stephanie Ready will be on the call.

Khris Middleton moves on to five-on-five in Miami

Khris Middleton didn’t practice Monday, but he went through his first five-on-five session afterward. It was a good sign of progress for the all-star, although Rivers played it down in his pregame media session.

“He’s good. I mean, he’s not ready to play yet, but he’s working hard, he’s been through five-on-five, he’s done some of that,” Rivers said. “The next steps are coming, but I can’t tell you when it will happen. I don’t know if it’s a step forward or a step we planned – three-on-three, four-on-four, we been doing four-on-four full court for a week, so I don’t know what the difference is, we’re just trying to get him back on the floor and he’s got to go through the process.”

Rivers ended last week with the hope that Middleton would be available for either the game in Miami or on Saturday against Washington. The team will likely practice Friday in Milwaukee.

Buck’s injury report

  • Khris Middleton, out (surgery on both ankles)
  • Tyler Smith, Questionable (Non-COVID Illness)
  • AJ Johnson, probable (left Achilles tendinitis)
  • MarJon Beauchamp, probable (left hamstring tendinopathy)
  • Bull Prince, Probable (Non-COVID Illness)
  • Giannis Antetokounmpo, out (left knee effusion)

Bucks starters

  • Guards: Damian Lillard, Andre Jackson Jr.
  • Attackers: AJ Green, Taurean Prince
  • Center: Brook Lopez

Bucks vs. Heat odds, over/under

The Heat are 2.5-point favorites over the Bucks, and the over/under for the game is 222.5 points per game. BetMGM.