Miami Heat guard Kasparas Jakucionis (25), guard Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11), and center/forward Bam Adebayo (13) defend against Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) during the fourth quarter of their NBA basketball game at Kaseya Center in Miami on March 12, 2026.
PHOTO BY AL DIAZ
adiaz@miamiherald.com
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 112-105 win over the Milwaukee Bucks (27-38) on Thursday night at Kaseya Center to improve to 3-0 on its four-game homestand. The Heat (38-29) closes the homestand with an important matchup against the Orlando Magic on Saturday:
With center Bam Adebayo the talk of the NBA since his historic 83-point night in Tuesday’s win over the Washington Wizards, the Heat avoided a letdown and never trailed on Thursday. Miami has now won a season-best seven straight games.
“I thought this was one of our more impressive wins of the season,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Going into it, you want to make sure that you have your emotional and mental batteries recharged. But it’s quite natural for there to be a little bit of something where you don’t have quite the juice. “
With Adebayo sluggish for most of the night after the heavy workload from his 83-poiunt outburst, Pelle Larsson and Kasparas Jakucionis led the way for the Heat. Larsson (career-high 28 points) and Jakucionis (21 points) combined for 49 points.
“Bam, what he did the other night was so inspiring,” Spoelstra said. “It just raised the level of everybody on our team. And sometimes you need to inspire the inspirer, motivate the motivator. And that’s what Pelle and Kas did tonight. Both of them were terrific.”
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Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson (9) reacts after sinking a three pointer late in the fourth quarter to seal the game against the Milwaukee Bucks during their NBA basketball game at Kaseya Center in Miami on March 12, 2026. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com
The Heat led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but the Bucks rallied to tie the game at 51 with 2:10 left in the second quarter.
The Heat scored the final eight points of the first half, though, to enter halftime with an eight-point advantage.
The Heat then pushed its lead up to 15 points early in the third quarter, but the Bucks again responded.
After ending the third quarter in an eight-point hole, the Bucks opened the fourth quarter on an 17-11 run to cut the deficit to two point with 6:51 to play.
The Heat regained a seven-point lead with 3:24 left in the fourth quarter, but the Bucks kept pushing back to pull within two points with 2:26 remaining.
The Bucks found themselves in position to tie the game with possession of the ball and trailing by just three points in the final seconds. But Bucks two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo missed a pull-up three-pointer that would have evened the score with 51.9 seconds to play.
Larsson grabbed the defensive rebound and then went on to hit the game-sealing three-pointer to extend the Heat’s lead to six with 27.9 seconds left.
Larsson was the star of the night for the Heat, finishing with a career-high 28 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 shooting on threes and 8-of-8 shooting from the foul line, six rebounds and six assists in 38 minutes.
“Pelle was relentless,” Spoelstra said. “He was not to be denied at all in this game. He was so rugged and physical. He drove it with aggression when he needed to. He made plays when he needed to. He facilitated when he needed to. He defended how he always does, and then he knocked down the big three when he needed to.”
Antetokounmpo finished with a game-high 31 points for the Bucks.
The Heat improved to 17-4 this season when holding its opponent to 110 points or fewer.
“It was just a very good team win,” Spoelstra said. “And so we didn’t have our juice offensively. … We kind of anticipated this wouldn’t be a 150-point game for us. So we leaned on our defense. We were able to hold them under 110. Our record is outstanding when we really lock teams down and pull them under 110. And I just thought it was a good, gritty tough win.”
All eyes were on Adebayo after he scored 83 on Tuesday for the second-highest scoring individual performance in NBA history. He came alive in the fourth quarter after a sluggish first three quarters.
The Heat honored Adebayo’s historic 83-point performance during Thursday’s game, playing a video tribute during the first timeout in the first quarter.
But Adebayo didn’t get close to 83 points this time, finishing Thursday’s win with 21 points on 6-of-20 shooting from the field, 0-of-5 shooting on threes and 9-of-13 shooting from the foul line, eight rebounds and two assists in 35 minutes.
“It wasn’t 83 tonight. It was 21,” Adebayo said. “So if anybody’s upset, I don’t care. But we got the W, so that’s all that matters.”
Adebayo scored four points in the opening quarter on 2-of-5 shooting from the field. He entered halftime with just six points on 3-of-9 shooting from the field and 0-of-2 shooting on threes.
Through three quarters, Adebayo had just eight points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field and 0-of-4 shooting on threes.
But Adebayo delivered in the fourth quarter, scoring 13 points with the help of 9-of-12 shooting from the foul line in the final period. He played the entire fourth quarter to help the Heat hold on for the win.
“He just figured out different ways to impact the team,” Spoelstra said. “And that was drawing fouls, getting to the free-throw line, offensive rebounding, and then the defensive plays he had down the stretch. He just put his fingerprints on the win. And that’s what winning players do. It might not go exactly how you want it to.
“I know he won’t admit it, but I’m sure he just needs another good, solid day off.”
The Heat again played without three of its top four scorers on Thursday.
Heat guard Norman Powell, who is averaging a team-high 22.5 points per game this season, missed his seventh straight game with a right groin strain.
Heat guard Tyler Herro, who is averaging the second-most points on the team this season at 22.1 per game, missed his second straight game with left quad soreness.
Heat forward Andrew Wiggins, who is averaging the fourth-most points on the team this season at 15.9 per game, missed his fourth straight game with left big toe sesamoiditis.
While Powell and Wiggins were declared out on Wednesday, Herro was listed as questionable and warmed up before being ruled out just minutes before tipoff on Thursday.
Herro had played in nine straight games and was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday before missing the last two games because of left quad soreness.
Thursday is the 47th game that Herro has missed this season. He was sidelined for 45 of the Heat’s first 56 games this season because of injuries.
The Heat was also without Nikola Jovic (low back injury management), Terry Rozier (not with team) and Jahmir Young (G League) on Thursday.
The Bucks were only missing Alex Antetokounmpo (G League) and Cormac Ryan (G League) against the Heat.
Those absences left the Heat using another new starting unit, and Jakucionis made the most of his opportunity.
The Heat opened Thursday’s game with a lineup of Davion Mitchell, Jakucionis, Larsson, Adebayo and Kel’el Ware. It marked the Heat’s 23nd different starting lineup in 67 games this season.
Jakucionis made his second straight start amid the Heat’s injury issues and the 11th start of his rookie season.
Jakucionis, 19, continued to impress with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 5-of-11 shooting on threes, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in 35 minutes on Thursday. He was especially hot at the start, scoring a team-high nine first-quarter points on 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range.
“Kas continues to get better, he gains more confidence with each week,” Spoelstra said. “He stepped up and gave us some punch with his scoring.”
Jakucionis is shooting an impressive 52 of 119 (43.7 percent) on threes in his first NBA season.
“I’m just trying to use my opportunities,” Jakucionis said of his efficient three-point shooting. “I’m working on that, so I feel pretty confident. And whenever I get a chance, I try to make the best out of it.”
The short-handed Heat then used a bench rotation of Jaime Jaquez Jr., Dru Smith, Simone Fontecchio and Myron Gardner on Thursday.
The Heat remains outside of play-in tournament territory, with just 15 regular-season games left to play.
With Thursday’s win, the sixth-place Heat (38-29) remained percentage points behind the fifth-place Magic (37-28) in the Eastern Conference standings. The Magic also won on Thursday, defeating the Wizards in overtime for their sixth straight victory.
But the Heat moved one game ahead of the idle seventh-place Toronto Raptors (36-29) on Thursday.
With the Philadelphia 76ers falling to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, the Heat also moved 2.5 games ahead of the eighth-place 76ers (35-30).
The NBA’s play-in tournament features the seventh-through-10th-place teams competing for the final two playoff seeds in each conference.
The Heat, which has needed to qualify for the playoffs through the NBA’s play-in tournament in each of the last three seasons, needs to finish among the East’s top six teams to clinch a playoff spot and avoid the play-in tournament.
The Heat and Magic face off in Miami in an important game with postseason seeding implications on Saturday.
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 10:07 PM.
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Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.