An important stretch of home games continues for the Milwaukee Bucks as they host an Eastern Conference rival, the Miami Heat, on Tuesday night.
Milwaukee entered Sunday on a hot streak, having won six of seven, but lost to the Toronto Raptors 122-94 to start the homestand.
It was the start of a 10-game stretch for Milwaukee, with games either at home or down the road in Chicago, including eight against Eastern Conference opponents, as the Bucks aim to secure a spot in the play-in.
Kevin Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins each scored 21 points to lead the Bucks, who continued to play without Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf). Cam Thomas contributed 15 in 21 minutes off the bench.
“We got manhandled, bottom line. Their physicality took us out of the game,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “It turned us into one-on-one players. It’s a good lesson for our young guards. They got into them.”
Porter agreed that the Raptors’ perimeter pressure got to his team.
“We got down on ourselves when we weren’t making our shots and they were making theirs,” Porter said. “We’ve been working hard, that trait has been out of the picture these last 10 games, we want to continue to play through our mistakes even when the ball’s not going in.”
Miami, a team currently in the play-in picture that Milwaukee is chasing, comes in hot off three straight wins. On Saturday, the Heat took care of the Memphis Grizzlies at home 136-120.
Andrew Wiggins led the way with 28 on 9-of-10 shooting and seven boards, while Norman Powell added 25 with six assists.
“I like a lot of what’s happening offensively the last two games,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Playing a real collective game, sharing the ball, being aggressive. Also taking the appropriate shots, you can see it.”
With Wiggins, Powell and Tyler Herro, who scored 14 off the bench, all healthy, the Heat offense looks to be more formidable than it was earlier in the season.
“With Norm, Tyler, everyone at full health, it’s a scary sight. We know we can play with anybody offensively,” Wiggins said. “Those guys can do a lot of special things. When we’re a full squad, we’re very hard to d with.”
Powell leads the team on the season with 22.9 points per game. Herro, in just 13 games, is right behind that pace at 21.5 per night, while Bam Adebayo averages 18.3 while grabbing just shy of 10 boards per game.
Porter and Rollins each average just over 17 points to lead Milwaukee without Antetokounmpo’s 28 per night. In five games with the Bucks, Thomas has also averaged 18.4 per game, including 34- and 27-point outbursts.
On the injury front, Miami was without Davion Mitchell (illness) and Nikola Jovic (back) on Saturday; they are listed as day-to-day.
Antetokounmpo is still listed as out, though Rivers said he will be back soon. Myles Turner (calf) returned for the Bucks on Sunday after missing a pair of games.
The teams haven’t met since November, when Miami narrowly defeated Milwaukee at home 106-103 in an NBA Cup group play match without Antetokounmpo available for Milwaukee. Herro, a Milwaukee-area native, led Miami with 29 points and seven assists in that game.
