The Miami Heat were undefeated against the team from Milwaukee before the season was suspended. Here are a few reasons why that likely was the case.
When the NBA and subsequently the Miami Heat’s seasons were temporarily suspended(hopefully), it sent shockwaves of devastation through the sports world, the world of NBA fans, and Miami Heat fans alike. While it was to be and has been extremely hard without one of our favorite forms of entertainment around and active, it has been for the total betterment of our collective nation.
With that in mind though, it has given all of us time to reflect on the things that really matter. These include things like our families, our parents, our children, our loves, our goals, our wishes, and most importantly, what makes the Miami Heat a bad matchup for Giannis Antetekounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Not on your priority list? Who would have thought it, but have no fear, All U Can Heat is here. Here are a few reasons why the Miami Heat are just a bad matchup for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Matchups
One of the main ways that the Milwaukee Bucks tend to go about beating their opponents is by exploiting matchups. One of the main ways in which they go about deploying this is by having someone other than Eric Bledsoe bring the ball up, while he sets himself up in the corner.
This then forces the man guarding the ball handler to shift to the top of the key, thus throwing him out of a familiar guarding position and the defense out of position as a whole, which then puts the offensive player at a supreme advantage. Even if Bledsoe does bring it up, he then hands it off to either Khris Middleton orThe Greek Freak to go to work in taking advantage of their matchups at the top of the key.
This doesn’t work as well with the Miami Heat though and here’s why. They operate without a true lead ball-handling guard most of the time, which throws off the look and Milwaukee’s ability to get a pure mismatch. Their entire gameplan has to be altered for Miami and they are one of the only teams that this is the case with, so that is the first reason why the Miami Heat are a horrible matchup from Milwaukee’s perspective.
Pace
The second way that the Milwaukee Bucks really want to beat you is with their pace. They want to get up and down in transition before you can set your defense up to stop it. If you take a look at the NBA Pace stats, the Milwaukee Bucks sit firmly planted as the number one pace team in the league.
Although the Miami Heat are ranked as one of the least paced teams in the league at 27, that isn’t reflective of their defensive hustle and intensity. We all know that Miami Heat players are in tip-top shape, but you also have to know that hustle, hard work, and effort are just as valuable to what they want to do as vertical leap, ball skills, and shooting ability, in example.
This is the separating factor here. When combined with the fact that they can’t exploit matchups as frequently with the Miami Heat, the Heat’s ability to get back and set up against the Bucks’ offense is the second reason why they are a bad matchup for Milwaukee.
Bam Adebayo
This one is self-explanatory, but we’ll do it anyway just for fun. The third and most direct way the Milwaukee tries to beat you is simply by letting that man go to work. The Freak doesn’t play against players like Bam Adebayo but a few times a year and at least half of them are against Bam.
Pascal Siakam is built similarly, but he doesn’t have the girth or the strength of Adebayo. You could even take a look at Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers, but he isn’t as purely physical as Bam or physical enough to contain Giannis.
Basically, Bam Adebayo is the perfect combination of size, skill, strength, dexterity, athleticism, and will to stop someone of Giannis’ ilk. He can’t out-athletic Bam. He can’t out-quick Bam.
He can’t out-muscle Bam. He can’t just easily go around or through Bam Adebayo either.
That is just it, he has to do things that he never has to do against anyone else to be successful against Bam and the Miami Heat, or just not have success against the Heat at all. The latter is the one we prefer. These, however, have been the reasons why the Miami Heat are a bad matchup for Milwaukee Bucks.