Milwaukee coach figured the most logical way to win in Miami would be to keep the Heat from running in their typical high-octane style.
Fortunately for the Bucks, the weary-legged Heat cooperated with that plan.
Brandon Jennings scored 23 points, Ersan Ilyasova added 16 off the bench and the Bucks — despite shooting 35 percent — snapped Miami’s three-game winning streak with a 91-82 victory on Sunday night. It was the second straight road win for Milwaukee, which started 0-8 away from home and held Miami to a season-low 37 percent from the floor.
“Huge,” said Milwaukee guard . “Especially for us being winless on the road and going 2-0 against two good teams, especially the quality team like the Heat, it’s huge for your confidence.”
Andrew Bogut scored 13 points for the Bucks, who got 10 apiece from Livingston and .
LeBron James finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds for Miami, which had won three straight. scored 23 for the Heat, who got 12 from . Milwaukee turned 22 Miami turnovers into 22 points and the Heat tied an season-low with nine assists, matching their second-lowest total in the franchise’s 1,870-game history.
Miami had wins over the Spurs, the and Philadelphia in a five-day span ending Saturday.
“We can make no excuses for ourselves,” James said. “But no one had energy from the start of the game to the end.”
It was the first time Miami lost this season in seven games without , out with a sprained right ankle.
Pacers 98, Lakers 96: Roy Hibbert scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter playing with a broken nose, and six of his teammates also scored in double figures to help Indiana beat the Los Angeles Lakers on their home court.
Kobe Bryant scored 33 points for the Lakers, but missed what would have been a tying 3-pointer from 30 feet from the top of the key with 3.5 seconds to play and the Pacers clinched it at the free throw line.
The Lakers, coming off road losses to Miami and Orlando, failed to reach 100 points for the 11th straight game — their longest streak since a 12-game stretch in 2003-04.
Hibbert, the Pacers’ second-leading scorer, left the court with the broken nose after fouling Bryant with 6:46 left in the first quarter.
Clippers 103, Raptors 91: Mo Williams scored 19 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, Blake Griffin had 18 points and nine rebounds, and the Los Angeles Clippers sent the visiting Toronto Raptors to their eighth straight loss.
DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and 16 rebounds and Chauncey Billups had 14 assists for the Clippers, playing their fifth straight game without point guard Chris Paul because of a left hamstring strain.
Caron Butler finished with 15 points for Los Angeles.
Williams scored Los Angeles’ first 17 points of the final quarter to give them a 93-73 lead with 7:22 remaining, after the Raptors trimmed a 22-point deficit to 13 on Leandro Barbosa’s 3-pointer with 8:25 to play.
Barbosa scored 19 points and Linas Kleiza added 16 for the Raptors, who began a five-game road trip by missing their first 15 shots and were 35.8 percent from the field overall.
Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan had 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Raptors leading scorer Andrea Bargnani missed his sixth game in a row with a left calf strain. Guard Jerryd Bayless returned to the lineup after sitting out 13 games due to a sprained ankle. He scored seven points in 18 minutes.
Nets 97, Bobcats 87: In Newark, N.J., Deron Williams had 19 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Nets over the Charlotte Bobcats.
Williams’ near triple-double would have been the first of the season for the Nets, who improved to 5-12 on the season.
MarShon Brooks added 20 points for the Nets, while Anthony Morrow added 19 points.
Rookie Kemba Walker led the Bobcats with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Gerald Henderson had 15 points while Bismack Biyombo and Derrick Brown had 11 each.
Without the injured Brook Lopez, New Jersey has relied on its perimeter shooting.
The Nets shot 38 of 86 from the field, including 7 of 27 from three.
Charlotte shot 46.8 percent from the field and 35.7 percent on 3-pointers.
Bobcats guard D.J. Augustin played the first quarter before leaving the game because of an inflamed big right toe.
The Bobcats’ youth coupled with the abbreviated season has Bobcats coach Paul Silas concerned about how his team will respond to the challenge.
“It’s tough because you don’t have the practice time,” Silas said. “Playing as many games as we do, you’re not used to it.”