Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from brutal 137-95 loss to Miami Heat
By Dalton Sell
The Milwaukee Bucks have certainly gone on a roller coaster ride throughout the first two games of the 2021-22 regular season.
They started things off promisingly with a dominant 127-104 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, but they were on the other end of the beatdown last night at the hands of the Miami Heat. Miami was in control from start to finish as they cruised to a 137-95 victory on their home floor, having never surrender their lead. Now, for context, these were not the typical Bucks. Milwaukee was without a handful of regular rotation players in Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez, and Bobby Portis, and others like Semi Ojeleye, Rodney Hood, and Donte DiVincenzo. Given how many players that were down, the Bucks were obviously depleted with the lineups they had available, so this loss certainly does not call for the panic button, although it does look brutal. With that being said, let us get it out of the way and dish out three takeaways from the contest.
The Milwaukee Bucks cannot match the energy of the Miami Heat in loss
One would have thought that the Bucks would have been energized coming off their massive win over the Nets, but that was not the case in this matchup. Milwaukee looked lifeless for most of the contest, while the Heat played like this was a matchup they had been looking forward to for quite a long time. Considering the Bucks swept them in last year’s playoffs and this was their first game of the season, it made sense that they came out zestful as they looked to make a statement, and they did by scoring 40 points in the first quarter.
A massive factor in their hot start was P.J. Tucker, the former Buck. Everyone knows that the team has faced controversy for letting the forward walk in free agency after winning the championship, a decision that has not sat well with Tucker himself. Tucker told the media before the game that he will always be “circling” games against Milwaukee on the calendar as he has that sizeable chip on his shoulder from his departure. Anyone watching could tell that he was extra juiced to take on his former squad as he was active early, knocking down triples and playing some physical defense. The biggest instance of the night was when Tucker dove into the crowd to save a loose ball, diving straight into Milwaukee’s bench to get the crowd cheering. Tucker wins this round.
On the other side of things, the Bucks just did not look like themselves from the opening tip-off. It could have been that they were without most of their regular rotation and they had to drastically shift the lineup around, but the energy just was not there. This was undoubtedly apparent with a sluggish performance on the offensive end from everyone involved.