MIAMI (AP) — Bam Adebayo scored 21 points in the game following his 83-point performance, Pelle Larsson had a career-high 28 points and the Miami Heat beat the Milwaukee Bucks 112-105 on Thursday night for their season-best seventh consecutive victory.
Adebayo scored 12 of his points in the fourth quarter for the Heat, who remained No. 6 in the Eastern Conference — just percentage points behind No. 5 Orlando, which has won six straight. The Heat and Magic
meet on Saturday night.
Kasparas Jakučionis scored 18 points, Davion Mitchell scored 13 and Kel'el Ware grabbed 13 rebounds for Miami.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led all scorers with 31 points for the Bucks, who got 19 points from Bobby Portis Jr. and a 16-point, 10-assist game from Ryan Rollins.
Antetokounmpo had a wide-open 3-point try from the top of the key that would have tied the game with 52 seconds left, but it rimmed out. Larsson controlled the rebound, then made a 3-pointer of his own 24 seconds later for a six-point lead — essentially sealing the win.
Miami again was without Norman Powell (groin), Andrew Wiggins (toe), Tyler Herro (quad) and Nikola Jovic (back).
The Bucks — somewhat unbelievably, given how their season has gone — had nobody out with injuries. They did see starting guard Ousmane Dieng leave early with an illness, but nobody was hurt for the first time since opening night.
“We’ve had the starting group that we’ve had to start the season once," Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. "And that was for five minutes. ... It's just one of those years. I still wish we could have figured it out. At this point, we just haven’t been able to and it’s tough.”
The Bucks have now dropped seven of their last eight.
Bucks: Visit Atlanta on Saturday.
Heat: Host Orlando on Saturday.
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