The Miami Heat got a huge win over the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night as it started a six-game road trip and a back-to-back. Bucks head coach Doc Rivers talked about what the Heat did well that caught them off balance and ultimately ended in the defeat on their own floor.
Rivers spoke to the media after the game and said it was the pace Miami was running at that made them play to their strengths. He specifically mentioned that they “didn’t handle that very well” according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel.
“Just the speed, pace, they were quicker on everything, on both ends,” Rivers said. “You have these nights. You hate ’em, but it is what it is…They move without the ball, they share the ball, that’s how they play. We didn’t handle that very well.”
The biggest catalyst one can argue for the Heat was Nikola Jovic, who started the game as Miami deals with injuries or absences to three key rotational pieces in Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier, and Josh Richardson. Having seen little to no playing time, he scored a team-high and career-high 24 points and collected seven rebounds as he made five of eight shots from three-point range.
“He made shots. And that’s what he does,” Rivers said in his straight-forward response. “Another young guy who knows how to play.”
Rivers spoke before about being “pissed off” at Heat for finding players
Rivers spoke before the game even about the Heat’s young players and how the team finds the ability to get diamonds in the rough. He said that it “pissed me off” that Miami was able to do this even when Rivers was not coaching basketball and just an analyst for ESPN.
“Just Miami does it again,” Rivers said. “It’s funny, I was not even in a competitive role, honestly, but it pissed me off. Like how do they keep getting these guys in the 20s? They keep doing it.”
“And basically the reason is, and I even asked Erik this — and that time he would tell me, I don’t think he would tell me any more — they kind of target guys that fit their culture and the way they want to play,” Rivers continued.
Rivers gives high props to Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Another young Heat player that is a part of the core is rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. who has been showing out this season as one of the top first-year players. In the game against Rivers and the Bucks, he scored 12 points, collected three rebounds, and recorded four assists.
“Jaquez, I mean, he’s the perfect fit for who they are and how they want to be,” Rivers said. “You know, it’s funny, I think certain guys actually target them, ‘Man, I’d fit in this system.’ Utah did that for years with Jerry Sloan. They kept doing it.
“And Miami’s doing it,” Rivers continued. “But it’s more about their system and how they play, and how they target. But both of those guys are fun to watch.”
There is no doubt that the Heat have the respect of Rivers whom he knows very well during his time as the head coach for the Boston Celtics. Miami gets a huge win over one of the top East teams and they are now 29-24 on the season which puts them seventh in the conference. Their next game is against the Philadelphia 76ers as it will be the tail-end of the back-to-back.
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