Takeaways From The Miami Heat’s Overtime Loss To The Milwaukee Bucks

The Miami Heat lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in overtime last night, dropping them to 35-43 for the season. They are the tenth seed in the East, half a game behind the ninth seed and 1.5 games behind the eighth seed.

Here are some takeaways from the game:

What happened to the defense?

The Bucks finished this game taking about twice as many shots within four feet of the basket as the Heat did. Additionally, they weren’t far off from converting on three times as many at the rim, despite the Heat finishing with four times as many offensive rebounds.

For as dominant as Giannis Antetokounmpo still is, allowing the Bucks to take get up 49 percent of their overall shots near the rim is unacceptable if you’re the Heat. That number ranks in the 98th percentile.

Throughout the win streak, the Heat’s defense served as a foundation that propelled them to control games once the offense came around. Last night, the Heat gave up a 107 offensive rating in the halfcourt (77th percentile) and allowed Kevin Porter Jr. to finish with 24 points on eight-of-16 shooting. More consequentially, Antetokounmpo and Porter combined for 21 free throw attempts as well as an 18-to-three assist-to-turnover ratio.

Trying to fill in the void

It’s tough to shell out much criticism for the Heat on the offensive side of the floor, despite the Heat finishing the game with a 30th percentile offensive rating. Without Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins and Nikola Jovic, the veterans stepped up to take on the load. Alec Burks finished with 24 points. Davion Mitchell finished with 24 points and five assists. Kyle Anderson added 12 points, 14 rebounds and three assists. Duncan Robinson added 16 points and three assists.

Meanwhile, Bam Adebayo went toe-to-toe with Antetokounmpo, finishing with 31 points, (including three made threes), 12 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal. He ultimately finished converting on just four of his thirteen combined shots between the paint and mid-range, which is typically where he’s most effective.

It was a valiant effort but not enough, especially down the stretch, where the Heat converted on just 10 of their 27 shots (37 percent) between the fourth quarter and overtime.