Milwaukee Bucks 131 - 124 Miami Heat: Quick Takes

Hey, it's Ethan Skolnick for Five on the Floor and the Five Reasons YouTube channel. The Miami Heat lose 131-124 to the Milwaukee Bucks in a game that they didn't have Jimmy Butler or Tyler Hero, but they were very competitive against the Bucks team with Giannis and Dame. So even though they will not be advancing to Las Vegas, this was the last in-season tournament game, and even though they've lost three straight games now overall, you felt a little bit better about this one than say that loss in New York, which is certainly one that they should have put away when they were up 21. He competed the entire game. Bam was terrific. He had 31 points, 10 rebounds. He missed some bunnies throughout the game. It could have been an even bigger stat line, but he was relentless and his teammates fed off of him. Kyle Lowry was good tonight. Josh Richardson was really good tonight. He seems to be finding his rhythm with his team, and that was the best that Caleb Martin's played. We talked about the game in Brooklyn and how he's starting to find his legs. Tonight, you kind of saw Eastern Conference finals Caleb Martin in terms of the quick twitch that Eric Spolscher has been talking about, attacking the closeouts, the spin moves. And of course, Jaime Jaquez was really good again tonight. Had a late turnover, but did have 14 points and had a couple of highlight plays. I don't think that he will be disappointed about this one. Again, the game in New York against the Knicks was disappointing. They should have won that. The game in Brooklyn, they never really had a chance. It was a scheduled loss. But tonight, Giannis and Dame combined for what? 65 points. Middleton hit a late shot. And yet, you look at the Bucks right now. They don't defend the way that they've defended previously. They seem to miss Drew Holiday. Middleton's not the same on that end. I think that the Heat will come out of this feeling like, if we have Jimmy, if we have Tyler, we can handle this team. And so I think this is actually a positive night and a loss. You don't like the moral victories, but a lot of Heat fans will be talking about what happened at the end. It did seem like the officiating tilted towards Milwaukee. I don't like to complain about that. But for Eric Spolscher to get a technical in the last minute of the game, doesn't usually do that. He doesn't get a lot of technicals, period. And he got one. He was upset about a foul call. And then again, he was upset about the technical. And that was basically ball game. So in a lot of ways, the referees decided what to me was the most entertaining game of the season. So the Miami Heat lose 131 to 124. Check for the coverage on five on the floor as we go forward here. And of course, watch the games with us on playback and check out the Off the Floor Discord.