Bucks’ Antetokounmpo on another double-double streak to start 2020-21 season
The Milwaukee Bucks look back at their time in the Orlando, Fla., NBA bubble with a bad taste in their mouths.
For the Miami Heat, it’s a different story.
Riding the leadership of Jimmy Butler and the breakout stardom of young players like Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, the fifth-seeded Heat made an unlikely run to the 2019-20 NBA Finals. Miami swept Indiana, upset the No. 1 seed Bucks in five games and toppled Boston in six.
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The Bucks were not only bounced from the playoffs by Miami, but they also struggled with the Heat long before the bubble. The Heat took both regular-season clashes before the NBA shut down due to the coronavirus in March, winning 131-126 in overtime on Oct. 26 and 105-89 on March 2. The Bucks defeated Erik Spoelstra’s squad in one of their eight tune-up bubble games Aug. 6 before losing four of five in the postseason.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks will be looking for revenge Tuesday night when Milwaukee (1-2) pays its first visit to Miami (1-1) this season. It’s the first of back-to-back games between the Bucks and Heat at American Airlines Arena.
The Bucks have struggled on the road to start the 2020-21 campaign, losing both contests away from Fiserv Forum. Dating back to last season, the Bucks have lost nine of their last 10 road games, allowing opponents to score 120.7 points per contests in that span.
One positive for Milwaukee, as expected, has been the production of Antetokounmpo, who is coming off back-to-back MVP campaigns. The Greek Freak has registered double-doubles in all three games this season, averaging 25.7 points and 13.0 per contest.
It’s the third consecutive year in which Antetokounmpo has started a season with a double-double streak of 3+ games. He opened the 2018-19 campaign with five double-doubles, the most in Bucks history since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1973-74. And last season, Antetokounmpo logged a double-double in his first 19 games, a streak no one had accomplished since Portland’s Bill Walton had double-doubles in his first 34 contests of the 1976-77 season.
The recipe for a Bucks win Tuesday night? An Antetokounmpo double-double with a side of sweet, sweet revenge.
NOTABLE
— Milwaukee ranks second in the NBA with an offensive rebound percentage of 28.5%. The Heat, however, are on the other side of that list with a 15.5% clip, which ranks 28th. It’s early, but Miami is averaging a league-worst 5.0 second-chance points per contest.
— Dating back to last season, the Heat have had 36 games with at least six players scoring 10+ points. That’s the most in the NBA by a long shot. Denver is next with 30 such games, followed by Indiana (29).
— Khris Middleton led the NBA in jump-shot field-goal percentage in 2019-20 with a 47.7% clip. This season, he ranks fourth in the league with an 84.6% mark on layups. In 2019-20, Middleton finished with a 56.2% on layups.
— Duncan Robinson has connected on 10 3-point attempts already this season. That’s the most through two games in Heat history, besting James Jones in 2010-11 (eight 3s). The record for most 3s through three contests in Miami history is 13 by Tim Hardaway in 1998-99.
Statistics courtesy Sportradar, basketball-reference.com
