Milwaukee Bucks vs Miami Heat Prediction: The Heat playing too many close games, the Bucks are imperious

The NBA midseason is on and just when I thought this is going to be a quiet offseason, regular NBA insiders Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski dropped the bomb that Kyrie Irving is asking for a trade. The Brooklyn Nets and the Kyrie Irving partnership has been a turbulent one and this can be another such example. More to follow later. For now, let us examine the game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat.

The Bucks enter the game after defeating the Clippers 106:105 as Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped 54 points in a rare scenario where one player outscored the rest of his teammates. This was a sixth straight win for Milwaukee and Giannis has nabbed 54, 34, 50, 41, 33, 29 points during the streak and there is no doubt that he has once again staked a claim for an MVP award.

This has come at a much-needed time because the team is missing their double-double off-the-bench player Bobby Portis and Khris Middleton hasn’t performed at an expected rate due to injuries. During this period, the Bucks have dedicated the pace, overcoming both high-scoring and low-scoring scenarios. They have now grabbed 35 wins and 17 losses, searching religiously for their second title in three seasons.

The Heat comes into the game after losing 104:106 against the New York Knicks and has dropped two of the last three games. Their last six games have been decided by five or fewer points and they have won four of those games. They aren’t clinical as last season but their defense has been top-class and they have allowed the second-least amount of points, conceding 108.1 points per game.

The trouble is their offensive end where they have scored the least amount of points(averaging around 108.4 Points per game). The biggest has hit has been in the form of Kyle Lowry, who has scored 12 a game and has shot below 40%(averaging fewer than eight points for more than a month). Their three-point shooting has been awful and Jimmy Butler has been shooting 30% from deep but has still averaged 20 points. Herro and Adebayo have averaged over 20 but the overall complexion is unbalanced.

• Heat: OUT: Kyle Lowry, Duncan Robinson, Orlando Robinson. DOUBTFUL: Victor Oladipo. Game-Time Decision: Gabe Vincent;
• Bucks: OUT: Serge Ibaka, Bobby Portis. PROBABLE: Giannis Antetokounmpo, MarJon Beauchamp.

• Expected Leading Scorers: Giannis Antetokounmpo(35+ Points), Jimmy Butler(26-33 Points);
• Expected Leading Rebounders: Giannis Antetokounmpo(15-20 Rebounds), Bam Adebayo(9-11 Rebounds);
• Expected Leading Playmakers: Jrue Holiday(7-10 Assists), Tyler Herro(5-7 Assists).

The Bucks have been playing some amazing brand of basketball and the best thing about their play has been that they have thrived in both fast-paced and well-measured scenarios. The Heat has been playing way too close games and hasn’t been decisive enough with their offense being one of the worst. I favor the Bucks to win here and predict a scoreline of 112:106 in their favor.