A national television audience and an expectant Fiserv Forum crowd were denied one of the NBA’s premier front court matchups Saturday night as two-time league Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo and Top Site Info all-stars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo were ruled out with injuries in the Milwaukee Bucks’ 124-102 victory over the Miami Heat.
Milwaukee has now won nine of its last 10 to improve to 15-8 while Miami dropped to 14-10 in losing three of four (all without Butler).
Antetokounmpo missed his second straight game with right calf soreness after being a late scratch against Toronto on Thursday.Listed as probable to play on the off day, the 26-year-old was downgraded to doubtful following the Bucks’ shootaround Saturday morning. Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer reiterated pre-game that the hope is it a short-term injury.
Starting guard Grayson Allen (illness) also was ruled out for the Bucks while Adebayo had thumb surgery and Butler suffered a tailbone contusion to take them out of action for the Heat.
All those significant absences left the stage open for Milwaukee all-stars Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday and the Heat backcourt of Kyle Lowry and Whitnall High School alumnus Tyler Herro.
And it was Middleton and Holiday who very quickly stole the spotlight, as the duo made plays all over the court from the opening tip to allow the Bucks to ease into a victory.Middleton broke out of an extended shooting slump and made 9 of his 18 shots to score 22 points. He also handed out nine assists while pulling down six rebounds.
Holiday was dominant early and steady throughout, scoring 16 points on 6 of 14 shooting. He also got his teammates involved with seven assists.
Pat Connaughton tied a season-high with 23 points and Bobby Portis recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 19 points and a season-high 16 rebounds.
The Bucks improved to 5-9 when at least one of their “big three” of Antetokounmpo, Middleton or Holiday do not play.
Lowry and Herro were physically harangued all night as the Bucks made sure to not let the pair get their team in the game.Lowry’s night was done with 2 minutes, 44 seconds to go in the third quarter after scoring 10 points on 4 of 12 shooting. He was just 1-for-7 from behind the three-point line, but he did have seven assists.
Herro played 33 minutes but he also made just four shots on 17 attempts, including just 1-for-6 from three-point range. He made six of his eight free throws to score 15 points on the night to go with nine rebounds and six assists.
The outcome was also a bit of rebuttal to the Heat’s 42-point victory in Miami back on Oct. 21, as the Bucks led by as many as 31 when the starters were on the floor. The Bucks scored 26 points off 19 offensive rebounds and out-scored the Heat 48-26 in the paint.
Milwaukee was up 105-76 to start the fourth quarter, but despite a four-turnover start by the Bucks the Heat were not able to string together enough points quick enough to truly challenge the large lead.If you liked this short article and you would like to acquire additional info regarding Top Site Info; more about topsiteinfo.com, kindly go to our internet site.
