Seven things to know about the Miami Heat, Milwaukee's first-round playoff opponent
For the third time in four seasons, the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat will square off in the NBA playoffs.
The teams' first-round series starts Sunday with a 4:30 p.m. CT tip-off at Fiserv Forum, followed by Game 2 at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
The Bucks (58-24) discovered Miami (44-38, then 1-1 in the play-in games) would be the first-round opponent after the Heat won Friday night's elimination play-in game over the Bulls, 102-91, to procure the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Take a look at the Heat to get a sense of what the Bucks will be facing:
Possible starters for Heat
Jimmy Butler (22.9 points per game, 5.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists)
Bam Adebayo (20.4 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 3.2 apg)
Tyler Herro (20.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.2 apg)
Max Strus (11.5 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.1 apg)
Gabe Vincent (9.4 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 2.5 apg)
Top reserves
Kyle Lowry (11.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 5.1 apg)
Caleb Martin (9.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.6 apg)
Victor Oladipo (10.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.5 apg)
Kevin Love (7.7 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.9 apg)
Coach: Erik Spoelstra
They simply haven't put it together like last year
It's easy to forget that Miami was the No. 1 seed in the East last year and came within one shot of the NBA Finals, and not only that, but the Heat returned many of the top contributors and 13 players from that roster.
But while the triumvirate of Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo remain a threat, Miami simply hasn't gotten much production from anywhere else.
The fourth-best team in the NBA by defensive rating last year fell to ninth this year (and particularly after the all-star break). Teams are shooting 37% from three-point range, which ranks Miami 22nd in the league.
On the other end, the team has faced some regression in its three-point shooting. After shooting 37.9% last year to lead the league, Miami has fallen way off the map to 27th at 34.4%. The team's offensive rating ranked 10th last year; it's 25th now.
The team isn't seeing near the production from others such as Max Strus, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent and Duncan Robinson, the latter of whom has become an afterthought as he's shooting 32.8% from deep after hitting 45, 41 and 37% the last three years. Strus, though, did hit a monster three-pointer late in his team's win over Chicago on Friday.
Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro have ties to Milwaukee, and they remain Dudes
Butler's 22.9 points per game lead the team, and he was really strong in the final 20 games of the season, when he averaged 25.6 points on 61.6% shooting. He did hit a wall in the team's loss to Atlanta in the first play-in game with his least efficient shooting performance in three months, but the former Marquette Golden Eagles star will always remain a concern.
Then, there's Herro, the Whitnall High School graduate who moved to the starting lineup this year after winning last year's NBA Sixth Man of the Year. He's scoring 20.1 per game, with Bam Adebayo at 20.4 points and 9.2 rebounds.
Former Marquette University player Jamal Cain, who transferred to Oakland University before concluding his college career, is a two-way player for Miami and won't appear in the postseason.
Not only that, but current Bucks players Jae Crowder, Meyers Leonard and Goran Dragić all played for the Heat at points in their career. Dragić and Crowder were thorns in Milwaukee's side during the 2020 bubble postseason. Leonard played only briefly in that series.
Is Bam Adebayo still capable of being a 'Giannis stopper?'
Adebayo has developed a reputation as a defender capable of at least slowing down Giannis Antetokounmpo, who still scored 35 points in a triple-double against the Heat in February this year.
Adebayo held Giannis to 7-of-17 shooting when matched up 1-on-1 in last year's regular season and 9 of 21 the year before (plus 3 of 16 in the playoffs). The two haven't seen each other much this year with Giannis missing two games against the Heat and most of a third.
Adebayo had some kind words for Antetokounmpo earlier this year, putting him in the same league as LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
There are some veteran names, but they may be in twilight of their careers
Kyle Lowry averages 11.2 points per game, which is the lowest in his career since he became a regular starter. The former Toronto Raptors guard has faced off with the Bucks in the playoffs a couple times before, but he's 37 years old and in the home stretch of his career. He still averages more than 31 minutes per game, but the Heat haven't gotten the preferred amount of production from the point-guard spot.
Kevin Love, a midseason acquisition from Cleveland, has started 17 games but only plays 20 minutes per game and averaged 7.7 points per contest with Miami.
Victor Oladipo scores 10.7 per game and shoots just 33% from 3-point range.
Rebounding burned Miami against Atlanta
The Heat rank 27th in the league in total rebounding, and that came to roost in a big way against Atlanta in the first play-in game, when the Hawks out-boarded Miami, 63-39, and thus had an advantage of 26-6 in second-chance points.
Adebayo had 16 rebounds on his own in the game against Chicago, and the Heat fared far better with a 55-44 edge on the glass.
The playoff history between the Heat and Bucks is recent and rich
All of the meetings between the two teams in the playoffs have been memorable for different reasons.
In 2020, the Heat beat the Bucks in the "bubble" playoffs in Orlando, a humbling 4-1 series setback that knocked the top-seeded Bucks out of the playoffs. A year later, Milwaukee regrouped against what looked like a dangerous foe, sweeping the Heat in the first round, 4-0, en route to the NBA title. In that series, Khris Middleton hit a buzzer-beater in overtime of Game 1 to win the contest and set the tone.
In 2013, top-seeded Miami made quick work of the Bucks, but Brandon Jennings confidently expressed that his team would win in six games, a sentiment that became cemented in Bucks lore.
The arena has a new name
Months after FTX, the maligned cryptocurrency exchange, went bankrupt, the Heat tossed the sponsoring name from its arena through litigation in November. So for most of the year, the Heat's home court was given the de facto "Miami-Dade Arena" name, but on the doorstep of the playoffs, we learned that the venue would be called the Kaseya Center for the security software company that bought the rights for $117 million.
It's a little like the Phoenix Suns suddenly naming their venue the Footprint Center midway through the 2021 NBA Finals.
How did the Heat and Bucks fare in the regular season?
Feb. 24: Milwaukee 128, Miami 99. The Bucks romped for a 13th consecutive victory (en route to 16 straight), though Giannis Antetokounmpo was limited to six minutes with a knee injury in his first game back from a sprained wrist suffered just before the all-star break. Also back from injury, Bobby Portis had 18 points and 11 rebounds in just 22 minutes off the bench.
Feb. 4: Milwaukee 123, Miami 115. Antetokounmpo registered a triple double (35 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists) and Khris Middleton had a then-season-high 24 points. Jrue Holiday stole the ball from Herro and went the other way for a game-clinching dunk.
Jan. 14: Miami 111, Milwaukee 95. The Bucks were without Antetokounmpo and Middleton for both losses in Miami (and Tyler Herro did not play for the Heat), so this marked a second straight loss to Miami in three days. Gabe Vincent and Victor Oladipo were on point for the Heat, with Vincent recording 27 points and Oladipo 20.
Jan. 12: Miami 108, Milwaukee 102. The Bucks didn't have Grayson Allen or Joe Ingles, either, and the Heat rode a big second half to previal. Vincent notched a new career high of 28 points on 10 of 17 shooting.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Seven things to know about the Miami Heat, Milwaukee's playoff foe
