MILWAUKEE - Forget what their record was entering Saturday's game. The Milwaukee Bucks had the combination that has proved to be kryptonite for the Miami Heat.
Speed. Athleticism. Sweet-shooting big men. The Bucks also had one other thing in their favor in that the schedule delivered the Heat to the Bradley Center on the second night of a back-to-back set. Miami is now 2-7 in that situation this season after falling 95-84 in Milwaukee.
Dwyane Wade's return to the arena where he played his college ball turned out to be a disaster. His shot was off from the start, his back was tightening up at every break and Charlie Bell was able to pull a Kirk Hinrich and get under his skin on the way to a forgetful, foul-filled night.
With Michael Beasley (knee) and Mario Chalmers (thumb) out with injuries, with Wade off and with the Heat getting it going a bit too late, Milwaukee was able to cruise to their sixth straight home victory.
D. WADE'S DOINGS: Wade missed six of his first nine shots and then came down awkwardly in the lane with five minutes left in the first quarter and grabbed his sore back. That was all you needed to know about how, when and why his night went so wrong against the Bucks. He was clearly frustrated, and it showed in two offensive fouls when he simply bullied his way through a defender. He nearly knocked Charlie Bell out on one play midway through the game, and shot a glare down at Bell like Ali did over Liston. Between Wade's back, his fouls and his off shooting touch, this was is one he won't soon forget. Wade picked up his eight technical foul of the season when he yelled at a referee to "call the damn foul" on a play when he was hacked by Bell and lost the ball. Wade didn't go far enough to get fined. But he was clearly fuming. He finished 6 of 20 from the field, including 0 of 6 from three-point range, and had 21 points, seven assists, five fouls and four turnovers in 31 minutes. Expect him to try to hang 50 on the Bucks Monday in Miami.
TURNING POINT: Despite the decent run the Heat made from 19 down to cut it to five in the final minute, this game was decided in the second quarter. That's when the Bucks outscored the Heat 33-17 and ran Miami silly. No one could keep up with Brandon Jennings. And when the Heat tried, it left open lanes to the basket for the Bucks cutting big men. That falls, in part, on Rafer Alston not being able to keep Jennings in front of him. It also falls on Jermaine O'Neal, Udonis Haslem, Joel Anthony and the back line for leaving their men open while the left to help stop penetration. Miami was a step or two late to everything.
LOSING EDGE: Energy is a never-ceasing buzz word for the Heat. But the energy showed up too little, too late Saturday night. Hakim Warrick was the Energy Bus for the Bucks. Go back several blogs, back to last summer, and I think I mentioned that he's the type of pogo stick, rebounding, dunking, jumping forward the Heat could use along a front line that simply lacks athleticism. Warrick torched the Heat for 22 points, six rebounds, including four on the offensive glass. The Heat lost this game, in part, because it lacks this type of player to neutralize an opponents activity around the rim.
HEAD-SCRATCHER: one question. How can Geriatric Stackhouse go from being out of the league and hosting a sports radio show a month ago, to being nearly unstoppable against the Heat? Come on, man. That's a damn shame. Stackhouse was the difference maker in the second quarter, as hard as that is to believe. He was 4 of 6 from the field and got all eight of his points in the second quarter. That's the quarter Miami was outscored 33-17. Go figure.
KEY CONTRIBUTION: Quentin Richardson's hot start was nice to see, considering how down he's been in recent games. Q-Rich got 16 points, six rebounds and two steals. He was 6 of 10 from the field, including 3 of 6 from three-point range. He should have been the only one on the team Saturday who had the green light to simply launch one from deep. Instead, it was an unfortunate free-for-all, or should it be three-for-all? Miami was 6 of 22 from beyond the arc, with coach Erik Spoeltra calling out his team after the game for settling for too many bad, long shots when there was other things to create. Still Quentin will have to keep this up if the Heat is to have any consistency from long range this season.
NEXT UP: Milwaukee Bucks at Heat, 7:30 Monday - AmericanAirlines Arena
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