MILWAUKEE — Although two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo played just six minutes before leaving with a knee injury, the Heat started the crucial second half of the season with a dud.
The Heat (32-28), sitting in seventh place in the Eastern Conference stuck with the Bucks (42-17) early in the first half, but the conference’s No. 2 team pulled ahead even without their star player, ultimately rolling to a 128-99 win over Miami at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Friday night. The Bucks have won 13 straight games.
Although the Heat traded leads with the Bucks through the first half of the first quarter, Milwaukee put its foot on the pedal by the end of the first period, opening up a 10-point lead after the first 12 minutes. The Bucks steadily built on that lead and had the game in hand by the end of the third quarter. In the final quarter, Milwaukee’s lead ballooned to as much as 35 points.
New additions Kevin Love and Cody Zeller each saw their share of time on the court, with Love getting the start in his Miami debut and Zeller getting an early rotation on the floor. However, neither made a dent in the Heat’s shooting issues. Love finished the game scoreless with four shot attempts (all 3s). Zeller had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Love had eight rebounds, while Zeller notched four.
Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 23 points. Bam Adebayo added 18, while Tyler Herro scored 14 and Caleb Martin scored 15.
The Bucks showcased a balanced offense, with six players reaching double-digits in scoring. Milwaukee rained threes on Miami, hitting 19 of 46 of its shots from behind the arc (41.3 percent). The Bucks shot 48% from the floor, while Miami hit 39.1% of its shots.
Miami continues its three-game road trip with a Saturday night game against Charlotte (17-43) at 7 p.m.
Five degrees of Heat from Friday’s game:
— 1. Three-point woes: Miami entered the second half of the season as the third-worst team from behind the arc, but Friday’s performance was rough even by those standards. The Heat shot just 22.5% from three against the Buck, finishing with just nine 3-pointers on 37 attempts.
— 2. Defense can’t stop hot Bucks: The Heat beat Milwaukee in back-to-back games in mid-January. Since then, the Bucks have been the NBA’s hottest team for the last month, winning 13 straight games and 15 of their last 16. But the Heat were no match for Milwaukee on Friday.
The Bucks built a double-digit lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Even with Antetokounmpo playing just a few early minutes, Milwaukee looked like the far superior team for basically the entire game.
— 3. Love starts: Love spent most of the past two seasons coming off the bench for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but on Day 1 with the Heat, he was in the starting lineup. The five-time All-Star opened the game in Miami’s lineup, making his fourth start of the year and first since Jan. 2.
However, the 34-year-old forward did not have a storybook debut, going scoreless in Miami’s loss.
— 4. First-day jitters?: New Heat center Zeller has waited more than a year to get back on the court, but the 10-year NBA veteran thinks he will be able to get into the swing of things quickly.
“It has been a while since I’ve played in a game, but I’ve played in hundreds of games in my career,” Zeller said before Friday’s game. “Once I get out there, it’ll feel like old. It’s an older group of guys, so these guys make it easy to play with them. Might be off on a little point calls and stuff, but it’s all basketball.”
Zeller has not played since Jan. 10, 2022, first due to knee surgery while with the Portland Trail Blazers. Portland waived him about a month later. He joined the Utah Jazz in training camp, but they cut him in November.
He has seen Miami play from afar, and he said nothing has dramatically caught his eye since joining the team.
“You hear about the culture here, so it’s fun to kind of be a part of that,” he said.
Zeller, who signed with Miami on Monday, played 16 minutes in his Heat debut.
— 5. Herro good to go: After missing Miami’s last two games before the All-Star break due to a knee bruise, Herro said he was good to go in the second half.
“I feel good,” Herro said before the game Friday. “Just needed a couple days. That break helped, and having those couple days off before the break.”
Herro did participate in the three-point contest during the All-Star festivities, but he said it did not have an impact on his recovery.
“I didn’t even really practice for the 3-point contest because of my knee,” he said. “So I kind of just rested and then when I got there, it was like shoot, and then I just rested again.”
