The Milwaukee Bucks opened up their NBA Summer League campaign with a 119-86 loss to Miami. Nate Ament and Kasparas Jakučionis made their debuts in a Milwaukee jersey, while Bucks regulars Cormac Ryan and Pete Nance also logged appearances. Brayden Burries and Pete Nance led Milwaukee with 18 and 16 points, respectively. Jahmir Young and Ryan Conwell each poured in 19 points for Miami.
Game Recap
The Bucks trotted out a starting lineup of Burries, Jakučionis, Ament, Bogoljub Marković, and Nance.
Miami started Tre Donaldson, Conwell, Trevor Keels, J’Vonne Hadley, and Vladislav Goldin.
Burries scored the Bucks’ first points of the game by knocking down a free throw; under the Summer League’s experimental rules, a free throw attempt now counts for the total number of points a shooting foul would have represented. After some back-and-forth play, Milwaukee quickly jumped out to a 7-0 run and held a multi-possession lead as the first quarter wore on. The Bucks’ defense looked enthusiastic, as they profited off a lot of Heat turnovers and stormed their way to some fast-break buckets. Despite a half-court Donaldson buzzer-beater, Milwaukee held onto a five-point lead going into the second frame, leading 31-26.
Miami and Milwaukee went back and forth, connecting on jumpers, floaters, and layups. Merely a minute into the second quarter, a Keels three-ball tied the game up at 35 apiece, and bench player Tre White’s fast-break jam gave Miami their first lead of the game. However, Burries quickly converted an and-one to give the Bucks back their lead. The second quarter was the Brayden Burries Show. He looked automatic from the midrange, and he looked every bit the dynamic scorer that his tape at Arizona suggested. Burries’ eight second-quarter points kept Milwaukee in the game. Milwaukee ended the first half tied with Miami, 56-56, after a quarter of hot shooting.
Miami began to heat up (ha ha) from long range, and grabbed a five-point lead coming out of halftime. Ryan Conwell, a former standout from Louisville, kept firing from deep, while the Heat backcourt connected from midrange to protect their lead. However, the newer Bucks continued to show their potential. Jakučionis looked very proficient as a playmaker and an offensive facilitator, and Ament looked pretty explosive going downhill. Yet, as a unit, Milwaukee struggled. Miami stretched their lead by picking off careless passes and shutting down Milwaukee’s offense. The Heat sprinted out to a 14-2 run to climb to a 15-point lead and kept scoring. By the end of the third quarter, Ian Schieffelin’s last-second floater pushed Miami up to a huge 22-point lead.
The Heat ran up the score, playing the gritty, committed defense that stymied Milwaukee in the third quarter while hitting the Bucks hard on the interior. Dunks from Goldin and three-pointers from Keels turned Miami’s lead from large to ugly, and the Bucks quickly found themselves staring down the barrel of a 32-point lead. Miami kept building on their lead to boost their point differential and give them a better chance of making the Summer League playoffs, and they looked invested as ever. The Bucks were consistently beaten to loose balls and offensive boards, and the Heat kept scoring from deep to push their lead even further.
Stat That Stood Out
The Bucks made just two field goals from outside the paint from twelve attempts in the third quarter. Their shooting dropped off a cliff in the second half, as Ament, Ryan, and Burries all struggled to connect from beyond the three-point line.
