The Milwaukee Bucks blew out the Miami Heat 144-97 on Tuesday night at American Airlines Arena. The game was so out of hand that TNT even cut away from the national broadcast midway through the third quarter. But TNT did return with updates about what was going on late in the blowout, because the Bucks were in the process of breaking an NBA record.
Milwaukee set an NBA record with 29 three-pointers made, topping the previous record of 27 threes made by the Phoenix Suns in 2019. The Bucks’ previous franchise record was 22 three-pointers made, which happened in 2018. Milwaukee made an absurd 29-of-51 three-point attempts, and 12 different players nailed triples. The only Bucks player on Tuesday night that didn’t make a three? That would be the reigning back-to-back NBA MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Sam Merrill — the final pick of the 2020 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Pelicans; he was traded to Milwaukee days later — hit the record-breaking 28th three with just over six minutes remaining.
Milwaukee was coming off an embarrassing 20-point loss — as 13-point favorites — to the New York Knicks on Sunday night, so they certainly responded quite well with Tuesday night’s performance.
Oh, and the Bucks and Heat meet in Miami again on Wednesday for Part II of a back-to-back. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra surely will be stressing a much better perimeter defensive effort for Miami in that one.