3 things to watch for the Milwaukee Bucks in critical game vs Miami Heat

How much production will the Milwaukee Bucks get from their bench?

The lack of bench scoring has been a hot topic all season with the Milwaukee Bucks and it doesn’t appear there will be much relief coming soon.

In a big game like this though, they’ll still need guys to provide some kind of impact off the bench — and I’m not only talking about scoring. Sure, it would be nice if Wesley Matthews knocked down multiple 3s for the first time since January 13th, but if they can at least get some good defense and force some turnovers or bad shots, I’ll take that.

Serge Ibaka has been a solid “meh” so far overall, but his defense has been solid. I wonder how much we’ll see of him on Adebayo, similar to what they did in the playoffs with Lopez on him and dared him to shoot. He doesn’t have the quickness to stay with Adebayo if he drives, but that will be on him to be aggressive enough to try it — he wasn’t last year.

I liked what they got from DeAndre’ Bembry against the Hornets at both ends. He looked more comfortable on offense and filled in the gaps where he was supposed to. I still believe he can supplant Matthews if the shots are falling and Matthews continues to struggle.

Jevon Carter has looked like a nice pest that can provide value against backup guards to force some turnovers. I don’t think he’ll get 28 minutes every night as he did against Charlotte, but in the right matchups, he can be useful. The Heat may not have Lowry, so using Carter to apply pressure to their lesser ball-handlers seems like a good idea.

They don’t have a ton of scoring off the bench and that has been a problem, but if those guys can fill their roles and do enough to hold the fort until Connaughton and Hill come back to give a bit more offensive punch, then that will be a win for this reserve unit.

The Milwaukee Bucks have seemingly gotten up for these big games, but the Heat are a tough matchup for them. It will be fascinating to see how they handle this one.