The Milwaukee Bucks have arrived on the NBA scene- something that they announced in a major way by scoring 29 3-pointers in a game against the Miami Heat. While it may have been snowing in Milwaukee the night they were destroying Miami Heat, the scorecard at Miami showed something else- 144-97.
Interestingly, it was Giannis Antetokounmpo, the reigning MVP and the Defensive Player of the Year, who was the only one to not score a three-pointer for the Bucks. He also scored just 9 points the entire game, his lowest since 2018. In that game, he had scored nine against the Miami Heat, a game that the Bucks lost.
The Milwaukee Bucks Rampage in Miami
In the couple of years that followed, things had changed quite a lot. And that certainly reflected in the game with the Milwaukee Bucks blowing the Miami Heat out of the game. Incidentally, the 47 point loss was also the largest margin of loss ever faced by the Miami Heat in a home game.
Mike Budenholzer, the coach of the Bucks, joked about how the basketball gods were with the Bucks that night. And there is some merit to his words, as they scored 29 three-pointers in 51 attempts- 56.9% success rate beyond the arc. When Sam Merrill put in the 28th three-pointer for the Bucks at 6:07 in the fourth quarter, the team went past Houston Rockets. And ironically, he had no idea about this until after the game was over.
Merrill later spoke about how they were in the zone- where they believed every shot to go through the hoop. After a 20-point loss to the New York Knicks, they were feeling pretty confident about this game- something that showed.
Khris Middleton, who led the scoring with 25 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds stated that the Milwaukee Bucks should feel relief now- at not having to depend on Giannis throughout the game.
