NBA: Miami Heat vs. Milwaukee Bucks Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat will present a fantastic matchup on Wednesday night. The reigning NBA champions are coming to Florida to meet one of their fiercest rivals in the past few years. And probably one of the biggest contenders for the Eastern Conference title. Miami struggles with injuries as both Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo can’t play, but that doesn’t mean that the hosts don’t stand a chance. The Heat doesn’t have any pressure, and anything is possible in those types of situations.

Preview

Milwaukee Bucks (16-9, -182) has back-to-back wins and only one defeat in the past 10 games. It happened a few days ago in Toronto when the home Raptors managed to surprise the Bucks and win 97-93. Though, in that one, Giannis didn’t play for the champs.

Mike Budenholzer’s unit stabilized quickly after that, beating the Heat and the Cavaliers at home, we might say without some particular troubles. The match against the Cavs ended 112-104 in their favor, with Giannis celebrating his 27th birthday scoring 27 points.

Milwaukee controlled the glass perfectly, outrebounding the rivals, 53-39, mostly due to fantastic Bobby Portis, who had 16 boards, 14 of them in defense. Even though Brook Lopez still didn’t play for the Bucks this year, nobody notices his absence due to Portis’ superb contribution. Khris Middleton added 21 points with eight assists and Jrue Holiday had 20 buckets with eight assists and seven rebounds.

Miami Heat (14-11, +150) were defeated in four of the previous five events, and on top of that, they lost two starters. Jimmy Butler is out due to a tailbone injury, while Bam Adebayo won’t play for several weeks after injuring his thumb.

Not having these two players will be a massive handicap for Erik Spoelstra, because both Butler and Adebayo are superb two-way contributors. The big fella is one of the top five defenders in the NBA, and we don’t need to spend too many words on Butler. He is one of few players in the league who can compete for both the MVP and the Defensive Player of the Year award.

The Heat lost their latest game to Memphis, in Miami, 105-90. Tyler Herro had 24 points off the bench, Kyle lowry 17, and that was it from some notable scorers on the home team. Also, the Heat hit just six threes.

Head to Head Games

These two teams have already met twice this year, and for the moment, they both have a win each. The first game in Milwaukee saw the Heat winning 137-95, but that was when Bucks lacked a few players. The second took place three days ago, and the Bucks beat the Heat this time without any trouble, 124-102.

Prediction

Milwaukee won’t forget the defeat at Fiserv from the start of the campaign, once Miami triumphed by a 42-point margin. This is a perfect situation for getting even with the Heat, who are now in Milwaukee’s early position. We think that the guests are going to be after a statement win, meaning that they won’t slow down throughout all 48 minutes. As a result, the champs will win with by a double-digit edge.

Pick: Bucks -10

Here is the preview for the game between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers.