Bucks face uphill task against Miami Heat
The last time these two teams met earlier this week in South Florida, the tenacious Milwaukee Bucks gave the Miami Heat a run for their money, and it took the brilliance of the Big Three down the stretch to finally pull off the win.
On Friday night the Miami Heat will be in for another tough fight, as they face off against Scott Skiles team at the Bradley Centre.
Miami though, have been ruling the roost on the road, of late. Heading into Friday’s match, the Heat have won 11 away games on the trot. If the men from South Beach manage to sweep the five game road trip, which gets underway with a stint at Milwaukee on
Friday, they'll tie the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers for the longest road winning streak in league history at 16.
The Heat have another important feat to accomplish on the night though.
A win against the Bucks will ensure that Miami records its best start through 38 games in franchise history.
In the all time match-ups between the two teams, Miami is 52-30 versus the Bucks in the regular season. The 52 overall wins are the third-highest that the Heat have posted against an opponent, with Washington (64) and New Jersey (52) being the other two.
Miami have dominated the Bucks in their own back-yard as well. At present, the Heat are 26-16 in games played in Milwaukee and have recorded at least one victory in Milwaukee in each of the last six seasons.
Miami currently leads this season’s series 2-0. The last encounter between the two teams was not lop-sided affair though. Milwaukee hung with their much fancied opponents for three quarters that night, and the Heat had to dig deep to carve out a 101-89 victory.
Erik Spoelstra was a relieved man after the match.
"The players probably enjoyed some other games more," He said. "But I think this was an important game. That's a very physical team. They're a very good defensive team. A lot of times when you play against them, it's a grind-out game, and we had to play
a different kind of game tonight, have some mental toughness and resiliency when things weren't necessarily going our way."
The Heat scored 46 of their points in the paint and capitalised on a 47-34 rebounding advantage, as Dwyane Wade led the Heat with 34 points on 10-of-19 from the field and 13-of-15 from the charity stripe. Dwyane said later, "We see why this team has beaten
some very good teams."
The Bucks have knocked down some big names since the beginning of December. The Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks have all been their victims, as facing elite teams seems to bring out the best in the Bucks. They however, could not produce
that form in their last match, as they went cold in the first half to lose the match against the Magic.
The Bucks' competitiveness has been tied largely to their shooting on the field. Although, they are fourth in the league in terms of points allowed, the conversion rate has been one aspect they don’t appear to overcome. Shooting at only 0.412 from the field
and 0.734 from the free throw line, the Bucks are currently the worst scoring team in the league.
The bad news for Milwaukee is, that they will come up against one of the NBA's best defences. The Heat currently sit atop the NBA in a few defensive categories. They rank first in opponent field goal percentage (.423), first in opponent three-point field
goal percentage (.319) and second in points allowed (91.9).
On the offensive end as well, they are protecting the ball ranking first in blocks allowed per game (2.51) and second in steals allowed per game (6.57).
In their last match on 1 January, the Heat held Milwaukee to only 39.7 percent shooting from the field, marking the 11th time this season they have held an opponent under 40 percent shooting from the floor. They improved to 11-0 in those contests. Additionally,
the Heat have won the last 18 games in which they have held opponents under 40 percent shooting from the floor.
To make matters worse for the Bucks, the Bradley Centre has been one of LeBron James’ favourite hunting grounds. The two-time reigning MVP has had two of his eight career 50-point games in this arena.
James though is not the only threat that Miami present.
With James and Chris Bosh to cover his back, Dwyane Wade has been simply unstoppable in the last few games. The dazzling shooting guard has notched up an average 35 points in the last five games, and if the Bucks are to have any chance of punching above
their weight, they have to stop Wade from playing freely.
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