Third time's a charm for Heat against Bucks

The
Milwaukee Bucks had the Heat’s number this season — an unlikely
circumstance considering the Heat's superstar-laden lineup and
Milwaukee's collection of journeymen surrounding point guard Brandon
Jennings.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra pointed to the two losses and
saw a Miami team that was not fully focused. The solution? Simple: “We
had to get our hands dirty."

The Heat certainly did. Behind a
35-point performance from LeBron James, the Heat rolled to a 114-96
victory over the Bucks on Monday night, finally solving the only team to
beat them twice this season.

The Heat accomplished exactly what
Spoelstra said needed to be done to prevent a series sweep. They were
physical. They were aggressive. They battled for loose balls. They
rebounded. They made shots — a lot of them, actually, connecting on 43
of 83 attempts and 7 of 14 3-pointers.

"They beat us twice because
we didn't play a 48-minute game, not because they're better than us,"
said Dwyane Wade, who finished with 22 points. "We just had to come out
here, and like Coach said, we had to get into a fight with a team that's
very scrappy. They beat you to the little things that you don't really
see in the score box. Tonight we got into that fight and we let our
talents and our offensive abilities take us the rest of the way."

In
the first meeting, the Bucks took advantage of the fact that Wade was
out of the lineup and rolled to a 91-82 victory in Miami. Less than a
month later, the teams met again at the Bradley Center. Miami jumped to
an 18-point lead in the first quarter and looked well on its way to a
laughable road victory.

But the Bucks came roaring back in the
second half, and Jennings' three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter were
the final nail in the coffin of a stunning 105-97 victory that brought
the Bucks within a game of .500.

Heading into the series finale,
Spoelstra stressed the importance of "getting into the fight," and
suggested that his team would come out with a greater sense of urgency
and more aggressiveness.

"We watched the film of the last two
games and we saw that our offense was not efficient and they took us out
of everything we normally want to do," Spoelstra said. "We made a
commitment to get into this fight (tonight). No one can spectate. We had
to get our hands dirty, which we didn't do the first two games."

The
Heat did everything that would be expected of a team with three of the
game's biggest stars, including James. He had 28 points in the teams'
first meeting and 40 in the second, with 26 of those in the first
quarter. With his performance Monday, he's averaging 34.3 points against
Milwaukee this season and shooting 51 percent.

Especially frustrating for the Bucks — and encouraging for Miami — was James' ability to hit shots with hands in his face.

"LeBron
is seventh in the league in field goal percentage," Milwaukee coach
Scott Skiles said. "I don't know what LeBron or (Spoelstra) would think
about how many difficult shots he takes, but he can take and make
difficult shots. Maybe they're not difficult for him, maybe they look
difficult for most people, but not for him."

Milwaukee, meanwhile,
hung close for a while. The Bucks lead 30-27 after one and were down
55-50 at half time. But the Heat, powered by James' 16 points, broke the
game open in the third and never looked back.

The Bucks' biggest
problem came on the defensive end, where the struggles have been obvious
for the past four games — all losses.

"We're an average defensive team," Skiles said. "We can't afford to be average."

Especially against a team like Miami.