Bucks at Heat
THE STORY: The Miami Heat, tied with Boston for the second seed in the Eastern Conference, host the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. Miami has won three straight games and eight of nine, including Sunday's win at New Jersey that wrapped up the Southeast Division title. The Heat's chances of catching Chicago are remote, with the Bulls having swept the season series, so their battle with the Celtics will determine who has home-court advantage in a second-round playoff series if the seeds hold to form in the opening round. Miami guard Dwyane Wade will be a game-time decision due to a thigh contusion. Milwaukee's postseason hopes are all but shot after Tuesday's loss at Orlando.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, Sunshine
ABOUT THE HEAT (54-23): Following an inexplicable loss at Cleveland to kick off a four-game road trip, Miami got back on track and romped to easy victories over Washington, Minnesota and New Jersey. With its next two home games against Milwaukee and Charlotte, the Heat will have played six straight games against opponents that were a combined 181 games under .500 entering play Tuesday. LeBron James had 31 points and 11 rebounds in the division-clinching win over New Jersey. Wade was hurt in a collision with New Jersey’s Travis Outlaw, but he returned in the second half and finished with 18 points.
ABOUT THE BUCKS (31-46): Milwaukee showed again why it is the league’s lowest-scoring team, with none of its starters reaching double figures in Tuesday’s 78-72 loss to the Magic. The Bucks were pummeled on the backboards, 49-33, negating a miserable 2-for-21 performance from 3-point range by Orlando. Drew Gooden came off the bench to score 18 points and fellow reserve Keyon Dooling added 10. Milwaukee trails Indiana by 3 ½ games and could be elimination from playoff contention with a loss Wednesday night.
WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Bucks swingman John Salmons scored nine points against Orlando, the fourth time in five games he has failed to score in double figures. Heat forward Chris Bosh has averaged 22.0 points and 8.6 rebounds in his last three games. James had four 30-point games in his last six and is averaging 30.8 in that span.
KEY STATISTIC: Sunday's win over New Jersey was the Heat's third straight road win and gave them an Eastern Conference-leading 26-13 record away from home.
SEASON SERIES: Miami is 3-0 on the season against the Bucks, winning in Milwaukee 88-78 on Dec. 6. The Heat then beat the Bucks twice in four days, 101-89 in Miami on Jan. 4 and 101-95 in overtime on Jan. 7.
KEY INJURIES: MILWAUKEE: F Jon Brockman (shoulder); G Carlos Delfino (shoulder); F Ersan Ilyasova (concussion). MIAMI: G Dwyane Wade (thigh); F Udonis Haslem (foot).
LAST WORD: “He knows at this point that he doesn’t have to push it. We need him more later than we do now. Dwyane needs to be as close to 100 percent as possible.” – James on the decision by Wade to stay in Sunday’s game after hurting his thigh.