Milwaukee Bucks: 3 takeaways from brutal 137-95 loss to Miami Heat

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton struggle in Milwaukee Bucks’ loss to Miami Heat

Despite the laundry list of players that the Bucks were missing, they still had their top tandem of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton available. Yet, much like the rest of the team, these two could not find a sustainable rhythm all night long and they played far from the duo that won a championship a few months ago.

The Heat have been known to give Antetokounmpo trouble in the past, and they did just that last night by holding him to 15 points on 4-of-11 field goal shooting. Most of that stems from big man Bam Adebayo, who is an excellent defender and arguably the best in the league at matching up in games against Antetokounmpo. Tucker was also hounding the Greek Freak all night, not afraid to get extra physical with his former teammate. Antetokounmpo just looked discombobulated as his shot selection was often questionable, while he also turned the ball over twice and picked up three quick personal fouls in nearly 23 minutes.

Meanwhile, Middleton was right there with Giannis by scoring just 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting, including 1-of-6 from behind the arc. It was a tough shooting night for the forward as he also had struggles with turnovers and fouls. His night ended early as well as 23-and-a-half minutes was all the time Middleton saw, and understandably so. The forward just could not find the bottom of the net to any extent, much like the rest of the team.

Two games into the season, the struggles from these two and the rest of the Bucks are not worth fretting about just yet. This is a team without a good portion of their normal rotation players, and there will be some ups and downs as they look to integrate everyone back when they are healthy. Onto the next one.

The Bucks will aim to bounce back against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, and you can catch the action at 7:30 p.m. CST on Bally Sports Wisconsin.