The Milwaukee Bucks entered Wednesday’s game versus the Miami Heat as big favorites, as they should have been. After all, the Heat were set to be without their two best players in Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, along with several other key rotational pieces. Meanwhile, the Bucks have been rolling recently after winning 10 of their last 11 games, and it looked like they were on their way to earning another victory for a good portion of the first half. Then the Heat had other plans.
Despite missing a laundry list of players, the Heat rallied back with a prolific second-half effort to snatch the 113-104 victory over the Bucks. It was a fantastic effort from Miami as they shot the lights out from the outside and played vigorous defense from start to finish. When the final buzzer went off, they were simply the team that wanted it more. Fans will quickly want to put this one in the rearview, but first, here are three takeaways from Milwaukee’s ugly loss.
Jrue Holiday’s masterclass is not enough for the Milwaukee Bucks in ugly loss to Miami Heat
There were obviously not too many positive takeaways from the matchup, but Jrue Holiday might be the lone exception. The guard did his part to keep the Bucks in the game until the very end, but his near-flawless performance was unfortunately not enough to seal the deal.
Holiday was sensational offensively as he scored a team-high 27 points, shooting an extremely efficient 12-of-17 (70.6 percent) from the floor and 3-of-7 (42.9 percent) from deep. The guard was in attack mode all night, consistently knocking down shots to keep Milwaukee momentarily above water. This was propelled by a big third quarter from Holiday as he scored 13 of his points during that period. Unfortunately, he could not fend off the Heat by himself as they made their spirited run to get back into the game.
In total, Holiday finished with 27 points, four rebounds, four assists, one steal, and one block as he clocked in his best effort of the season. While it did not matter in the end, he also played reputable defense on a number of Miami’s guards. In addition to his defensive excellence, the veteran has been clicking offensively as of late, and to see him stay red hot against the Heat is a welcoming sign. Seeing such a masterful performance from Holiday end up in a loss certainly stings.
Hopefully, this game can help the point guard find a groove as the Bucks move on to the next one.