Bucks demolish Heat, 128-99, in first game after All-Star break

Miami Heat v Milwaukee Bucks — Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images

Milwaukee shot the lights out. Miami did the exact opposite, whatever that is.

The much-maligned Miami Heat 3-point shooting didn’t look any better tonight, as they got blasted in their first game back from the All-Star break by the Milwaukee Bucks, 128-99.

Even without Giannis Antetokounmpo for all but 6:28, the Bucks played with pace, cohesion and knocked down every conceivable attempt from the floor — open or otherwise. The Bucks shot 48.0 percent, canning 19 3-pointers on 46 attempts — good enough for a 41.3 3-point percentage.

Miami shot poorly enough to build a house … or two. It netted just 39.1 percent of its attempts and 22.5 percent (9-for-40) from 3-point range; on shots that were not directly at the rim, the Heat went 21-for-75 (28.0 percent), including 12-of-35 (34.3 percent) on non-rim 2s.

Here was Miami’s shot chart on the evening:

Miami Heat shot chart vs. Bucks:

Here’s Milwaukee’s:

Bucks shot chart vs. Heat:

Friday night’s 29-point loss marked the worst loss (in terms of point-differential) for the Heat this season, while it was the Bucks’ best. Miami now moves 1.5 games behind the New York Knicks for the No. 6 seed, while Milwaukee moves within a half-game of the Boston Celtics once again.

Friday’s contest featured the respective debuts for many veterans on their new teams: Kevin Love (Heat), Cody Zeller (Heat), Jae Crowder (Bucks) and former Heat center Meyers Leonard (Bucks), who signed a 10-day contract with Milwaukee earlier this week.

Love, who started the game, did not score in 22 minutes, finishing with eight rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block. Zeller had 10 points with four rebounds and three dimes in 16 minutes off the bench; Crowder added nine points with three rebounds and Leonard posted five points and four rebounds in 10 minutes.

Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Bam Adebayo posted 18 points with seven rebounds and Tyler Herro knocked down three of Miami’s nine 3-pointers, finishing with 14 points. Caleb Martin had 17 points with five rebounds on 5-of-10 shooting with a pair of triples.

Jrue Holiday had 24 points, five rebounds and seven dimes. Bobby Portis tallied 18 points apiece with 11 boards. Brook Lopez finished with 17 points and six boards; Grayson Allen added 16 points with four triples while Khris Middleton finished with 12 points.

Butler scored nine of Miami’s first 14 points across the opening 5:13. Love’s opening nine-minute stint ended with four rebounds and a pair of assists. Milwaukee’s lead grew to as big as 12 in the first quarter, heading into the second period up 42-32 after converting on 15 of their 24 (7/13 3PA) field goal attempts.

Giannis Antetokounmpo left with 1:13 in the first quarter (knee) and did not return. He finished with four rebounds, four assists and four rebounds in 6:28.

A 19-7 second-quarter Bucks run extended their advantage to 19 — 64-45 — with 4:50 left in the first half. Milwaukee led at halftime 73-56, shooting 55.1 percent from the floor and 47.6 (10-21) percent from 3-point range. The same struggles for Miami continued offensively, knocking down just 42.9 percent of its shots — going 3-for-14 from distance.

Jrue Holiday’s triple widened it to 92-69 with 4:19 left in the third quarter. Duncan Robinson’s triple cut it to 18 with under 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, but the Heat wouldn’t be able to trim the lead any thinner in Friday night’s drubbing.