3. Nikola Jovic has career night Bucks beatdown
The Miami Heat struggled to beat the top seeds from both conferences and only earned two victories against the top three seeds in the East and West. In one of those victories, Miami went into Milwaukee and demolished the Bucks in a 123-97 victory.
Many players stepped up in the absence of Jimmy Butler with key performances coming from Bam Adebayo who recorded a triple-double and Duncan Robinson scoring 23 points on 6 made threes. But the performance that stood out the most was Nikola Jovic who scored a career high 24 points with five made threes to go along with seven rebounds and three assists.
Before his breakout performance, Jovic only played a grand total of 10 minutes. But with Butler out again, Jovic made the most of his opportunity and carved up the Bucks.
Jovic made some early catch-and-shoot threes early in the game, and his confidence began to blossom and began to make more plays off the dribble and on the break.
Jovic displayed what he can do with the ball in his hands and had some strong finishes at the rim with one being over former Defensive Player of the Year winner Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Start of the third, he can now use the early shooting to open up some attacks
β Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) February 14, 2024
Semi transition and just look at the pace change on his two steps
That added hesitation before going up just leaves Giannis grounded
Also using that off arm to protect the shot attempt pic.twitter.com/8mo6pRDgEV
This was one of the many games of the season where Jovic showed he can co-exist with Bam Adebayo and be a respectable front court. Miami has had many frontcourt players walk in and out the door since the Adebayo-Butler build started. But with Jovic's skillset and improvement, Jovic has the tools necessary to be a frontcourt piece in Miami for years to come.