It’ll be the Giannis Antetokounmpo—Bam Adebayo show this afternoon, as the Milwaukee Bucks take on the Miami Heat from the Florida bubble.
Coverage for BUCKS-HEAT begins at 2 p.m. on WKTY.
Tune in on 96.7 FM / 580 AM.
No Jimmy Butler for the Heat. Out with a sore ankle. But, the all-star Adebayo is no slouch and the defensive stud could give Antetokounmpo some problems. Maybe?
The Heat are 2-0 against Milwaukee this season, including the second game of the season, without Butler, handing the Bucks one of their only two losses at the Fiserv Forum.
The Bucks are coming off a sort of embarrassing loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday. A loss in which Antetokounmpo didn’t play in the second half and no starter logged more than 20 minutes.
The Bucks also have little to play for. With five games to go before the playoffs, they only need one win to clinch the top seed in the east. There’s no reason to hold on to the NBA’s best record, since there is no home court advantage — though technically, Milwaukee does have a 2.5 game lead on the LA Lakers for that honor.
What’s amazing, Milwaukee has lost five of the past six games, including pre-pandemic basketball.
Those five losses represent more than a third of their total for the season, at 54-14.
Antetokounmpo comes in averaging 29.6 points, 13.7 and 5.8 assists.
Adebayo averaged 16.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists. He could be unleashed offensively, with Butler out — if Giannis and Brooke Lopez let that happen.
Just to note, Tuesday’s 119-116 loss to Brooklyn, a 19-point underdog, was the largest upset, by point spread, in 27 years.