MIAMI — Last season ended for the Miami Heat with a disappointing 17-point loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in May that sent the organization into the summer reassessing its roster. The revamped and re-energized Heat opened this season with a statement win over the Bucks that only added to the excitement and intrigue of what may lie ahead.
What a difference five months make, as the Heat (1-0) crushed the defending NBA champion Bucks 137-95 on Thursday night at FTX Arena. The 42-point victory is the second-largest win in franchise history behind only a 43-point win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 29, 1994.
But the victory comes with a caveat, as Milwaukee was without six players because of injuries. Among those missing against the Heat were Bucks starters Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez.
The Heat’s win was impressive nonetheless because of the dominance it displayed. It marked the most points Miami has ever scored in an opener.
The Heat never trailed, won the first quarter by 23 points and took a 29-point lead into halftime. Miami’s advantage grew to as many as 42 points in the second half.
Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro led the charge, combining for 68 points on 25-of-41 (60.1 percent) shooting.
Adebayo finished with 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting and 13 rebounds.
Butler ended the night with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting, four rebounds and six assists.
Herro contributed a team-high 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 shooting on threes, six rebounds and five assists.
It marked just the fifth time the Heat has had three 20-point scorers on opening night in franchise history.
In guard Kyle Lowry’s first regular-season game with the Heat, he recorded only five points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field and 1-of-6 shooting on threes. He left the court briefly in the second quarter after spraining his left ankle but returned to finish the game.
The Bucks, which swept the Heat out of the first round of the playoffs last season, shot just 38.1 percent from the field.
Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting and 10 rebounds, which is considered a quiet game by his standards.
The Heat has now won seven consecutive season-openers at home, with its last loss in this scenario coming in 2007.
Next up for the Heat is a road matchup against the Indiana Pacers (0-1) on Saturday night.
Here are five takeaways from the Heat’s season-opening win over the Bucks:
The Heat’s first quarter of the season will probably end up as one of its best quarters of the season.
Miami opened Thursday’s game on a 32-7 run on its way to outscoring Milwaukee 40-17 in the first quarter.
The 23-point lead after one period ties for the ninth-largest in Heat history, and it’ marks Miami’s most dominant opening quarter since outscoring the Houston Rockets by 32 in the first period of a game during the 2019-20 season.
Adebayo and Butler combined for 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting in Thursday’s first quarter. Miami also got 20 points from its bench (eight from Tyler Herro. seven from Dewayne Dedmon and five from Max Strus).
The first quarter was good until the very end for the Heat, as Strus hustled for a chase down block on a Jordan Nwora dunk attempt with three seconds left and Herro grabbed the rebound and drilled a floating 32-foot three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Heat’s defense was suffocating to open the game. The Bucks totaled just 17 points on 5-of-22 shooting from the field and 2-of-13 shooting on threes while committing five turnovers in the first quarter.
That dominant period propelled the Heat to enter halftime with a 29-point lead, which is tied for the fifth-largest halftime advantage in Heat history.
Lowry did not score many points in his Heat regular-season debut, but his impact was definitely felt on the offensive end.
Lowry totaled just five points, but his veteran point guard presence freed up Adebayo and Butler to take on more of an attacking role.
Adebayo, who averaged 5.4 assists last season, finished with one assist on Thursday. But he scored 20 points on 13 shots in 23 minutes.
Butler dished out six assists on Thursday, but he also was able to play in more of an off-ball role with Lowry handling most of the point guard duties when he was on the court.
That meant more post touches and offense generated by off-ball movement for Butler, and that turned into more opportunities around the basket.
Butler scored 21 on 10 shots, and seven of those shots came from inside the paint. He also drew enough fouls to finish 9 of 11 from the free-throw line.
The Heat’s rotation to open the season did not offer any surprises.
It went as expected, with Kyle Lowry, Butler, Duncan Robinson, P.J. Tucker and Adebayo starting for Miami.
Herro entered as the sixth man, followed by Dewayne Dedmon, Strus and Markieff Morris to make up the Heat’s nine-man rotation on opening night.
The Heat’s bench outscored the Bucks’ reserves 75-42 behind Herro’s 27 points.
With the lopsided score, guard Gabe Vincent entered the game late in the third quarter. The Heat emptied the bench in the fourth quarter.
But there was one small Heat roster surprise, with both of its two-way contract players, Marcus Garrett and Caleb Martin, on the active roster Thursday despite having a relatively healthy group. That means it counted as one of the 50 regular-season games they can be active for as part of their two-way deals, and Garrett and Martin both entered the opener in the fourth quarter.
This game meant a little more to Tucker, and it was evident.
Tucker, 36, finished his first regular-season game in a Heat uniform with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 shooting on threes, six rebounds, two assists and one steal in 22 minutes.
Tucker, who won an NBA championship with the Bucks last season, admitted this week that he was surprised that Milwaukee did not make more of an effort to keep him this past offseason.
Milwaukee held Tucker’s Bird rights and could have surpassed the salary cap to bring him back, but The Athletic reported that the Bucks’ luxury tax bill was a factor in not matching or exceeding the Heat’s offer.
Tucker, who was a consistent part of Milwaukee’s rotation during its championship run, ended up signing with Miami on a two-year, $14.4 million contract as a free agent.
“To say that I’m not circling every time we play Milwaukee, I would be lying to you,” Tucker said this week.
And it looked like Tucker enjoyed every bit of the Heat’s dominant performance against his former team.
Tucker was a factor from the start, recording five points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal and quality defense on both Antetokounmpo and Middleton, in nine first-quarter minutes. He was called for a hard foul on Antetokounmpo less than a minute into the game and started at his former teammates and coaches after hitting a three in front of the Bucks’ bench midway through the opening period.
This game did not offer a real read on how the new-look Heat match up with the Bucks.
Why? Because Milwaukee was missing six players, including a few starters, due to injuries.
The Bucks were without starters Jrue Holiday (right heel contusion) and Brook Lopez (back soreness) against the Heat. Holiday is one of the best two-way players in the NBA and Lopez, a 7-footer, is an important part of Milwaukee’s paint-packing defense.
Both Holiday and Lopez helped the Bucks sweep the Heat in the first round of the playoffs last season.
The Bucks were also missing Donte DiVincenzo (left ankle recovery), Rodney Hood (right foot soreness), Semi Ojeleye (left calf strain) and Bobby Portis (left hamstring strain).
The Bucks, known for their size and length, went small without Lopez. Milwaukee started the 6-5 Pat Connaughton and 6-4 George Hill against Miami in place of Holiday and Lopez.
Meanwhile, the Heat only was without guard Victor Oladipo, who continues to recover from May knee surgery.
Thursday’s win was encouraging for the Heat, but it’s not necessarily an accurate representation of the matchup with the Bucks missing so many rotation players. The next game between the Heat and Bucks is Dec. 4 in Milwaukee.
