Teams headed in opposite directions clash in NBA Cup East Group C action on Wednesday when the Miami Heat chase a sixth consecutive victory and the Milwaukee Bucks try to avoid a sixth successive defeat.
Milwaukee’s bid to end its skid has been made more difficult by the absence of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has missed the last three games with a left groin strain. Antetokounmpo has averaged 31.2 points on 62.9% shooting from the field — both career bests.
“It’s as much an offensive problem as a defensive problem,” Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said after the Bucks’ 115-103 home loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday. “We’re really struggling (with) scoring.
“It’s clearly ball movement,” Rivers said. “I think right now we’re easier to guard, we’re trying to run too many pick-and-rolls, (and) we don’t get off the ball. We’re thinking about it, (and) we know what we need to do. We’ve just got to be able to execute it.”
Foul discipline is also a problem for Milwaukee.
Against Portland, the Bucks committed 26 fouls to the Blazers’ 16. That resulted in the Blazers racking up 33 free-throw attempts to Milwaukee’s 18.
“We’re getting killed every night at the free-throw line,” Rivers said. “It’s not the refs, it’s us. We’ve got to figure out a way of playing defense better without fouling. And we’ve got to figure out a way of getting to the foul line ourselves.”
Miami was buoyed by the return of All-Star guard Tyler Herro from ankle surgery. Herro scored 24 points in his season debut Monday as the Heat opened a four-game homestand with a 106-102 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Norman Powell, who leads Miami’s scoring averaging 25.4 points per game, missed the game with a groin injury. His status is day-to-day.
The high-octane Heat are expected to become even more dangerous when Herro and Powell are able to play together for the first time.
“I was bummed out when I saw Norm was out (Monday),” said Herro, the Heat’s leading scorer last season with 23.9 points per game. “I just wanted to see all that come together. We’ve already played 20 games, and I’ve missed almost all of them.”
Kel’el Ware paired 20 points with 18 boards against the Mavericks to deliver his third successive 20-point double-double.
“Being able to see what he’s doing, I’m truly proud of him,” the Heat’s Bam Adebayo said. “It might not be 20 and 18 every night. But his impact now, it doesn’t matter if it’s seven points and 10 rebounds, you’re going to feel his impact.”
Adebayo, who is scoring at a clip of 19.5 points with 8.4 rebounds, says Miami’s freewheeling style is both fun to play in and difficult for teams to plot against.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who are hard to guard off the catch, instead of pick-and-roll, which you can scheme against,” he said. “But we don’t really run plays. You can’t scout us like that. Then obviously (with) our pace, we try to wear on you that way, and we get stops. Every game, we’re trying to hit those three marks — run with pace, play controlled havoc offense, and get stops. It’s a fun offense to be part of.”
The Bucks have won six of their past seven meetings with the Heat, including all four last season.
