The Miami Heat are one of, if not the very best, three-point shooting teams this year. That’s key when talking about beating the Milwaukee Bucks.
“Rule 3: Make your 3s”
This one is pretty self-explanatory and entirely relevant for the Miami Heat. In fact, if the Miami Heat sink their three-point attempts, not only can they beat the Milwaukee Bucks, but they can beat anybody. Let’s see what Goldsberry has to say here though.
"On the other end of the court, Mike Budenholzer’s top-ranked defense famously protects the rim at all costs while daring opponents to beat them with jumpers. It’s an extreme dichotomy: No team in the league has given up fewer points in the paint, and no team has given up more 3-pointers. Their defensive philosophy is built on the premise that you cannot protect everything effectively. Given their massive frontcourt personnel in the Lopez twins and Giannis, the Bucks can dominate rim protection and the defensive glass while spending fewer resources on closeouts on the edges. No team has given up more open 3s than the Bucks. Milwaukee has given up 1,301 3-point tries (7.6 per game) with the closest defender at least 6 feet away, per Second Spectrum tracking. While it’s a risky game to play, overall it has worked well. The Bucks have been the most efficient defense in the league in each of Budenholzer’s two seasons. But when shooters get hot, the Bucks’ defense can falter, which is what happened against the Raptors."
Goldsberry is three for three on the day as to “make your 3s” isn’t only a rule to beat the Bucks, for the Heat and everyone else, but it is sort of a golden rule for the Heat to be able to beat anybody, as mentioned.
The Miami Heat are currently the best ranked three-point shooting team in the league and have been for much of the season. They have one elite shooter, the best in the league if you ask me in Duncan Robinson, but they also have another wave of great shooters behind him.
When you look at Goran Dragic(37 percent on 5.8 attempts per game), Jae Crowder(41 percent on 6.7 attempts per), Kelly Olynyk(43 percent on 3.4 attempts per), and Tyler Herro( 39 percent on 5.4 attempts per), just to name a few, you see that the Miami Heat have a multitude of guys who can absolutely throttle you from deep.
Again, if the Miami Heat hit their open shots, they can beat anybody. This goes double for the Milwaukee Bucks who seem to be content to live by the three or die by the three, as again and as Goldsberry says, “No team has given up more open 3s than the Bucks”.
That’ll get you beat by Miami every single time. Miami shot 16/44 for 36.4 percent from distance in the first game and 18/37 for 48.6 percent in the second game they played this season, so the point is proven.
The Miami Heat, again, can and have beat the Milwaukee Bucks this season. They used the tactics that Goldsberry laid out here, in totality or in piece-mill in each of those contests.
What that means though is three things specifically. One is that Goldsberry knows exactly what he’s talking about.
Two is that the Miami Heat, sort of, already knew these things. Three is this.
The Miami Heat can do it again and they know that, but now, everyone else knows that too. These are the main reasons why. We will see if they can execute them once again, on Thursday, as the Miami Heat get set to take on Giannis and his Milwaukee Bucks.