Miami had several chances to pull off a quality road win but could not contain Milwaukee down the stretch.
The Miami Heat wrapped up a disappointing road trip with a 123-115 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night in a game in which Giannis Antetokounmpo tallied a triple-double with 35 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists.
As they did in their prior losses on this 1-3 road trip, Miami played well in stretches and could have came out of this dogfight with one of their most treasured victories of the season but instead are left with another frustrating loss in yet another close game. Yes, the shorthanded Heat, who were without Kyle Lowry and Victor Oladipo, deserve credit for hanging tough and not giving up against the No. 2 seed in the East, but when the margin of error is razor-thin in these clutch situations, the team is not good enough to consistently win these games.
Jimmy Butler had a monster third quarter performance and finished with 32 points for the night but unfortunately had little impact in the game by the time he re-entered in the fourth quarter. The game had see-sawed back and forth as Miami not only hung around but landed haymakers even if they were down to just nine available players, but gradually it became apparent that Antetokounmpo was too much of a force to be contained in the final several minutes of the game and Milwaukee’s shooting from deep assured them of their seventh consecutive victory.
Fortunately for the Heat, their rivals the New York Knicks also lost tonight so they retain a game lead over them and the sixth seed with their 29-25 record.
Miami next hosts the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday at 7:30pm.