On Thursday night, the Milwaukee Bucks had the opportunity to look like a million bucks (pun intended) as they went to Kaseya Center to face the Miami Heat in their first game since Bam Adebayo's insane 83-point outing. Adebayo was never going to be able to repeat that bonkers performance, especially not against a more competent team in the Bucks, but stopping the man who put up 83 points and shutting him down would have made the Bucks look good.

The Bucks did succeed in that regard; they held Adebayo to just 21 points, which is 63 fewer points than he scored two days ago against the Washington Wizards. But of course, Milwaukee did lose, 112-105, after Pelle Larsson scored a career-high 28 points to take the mantle from Adebayo as an unlikely leading scorer.

After the game, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers admitted that Adebayo's 83-point night did not do anything at all to change their game plan against him, believing it to be an outlier (which it was, as amazing of a game that was from the Heat star).

“No. We literally didn't do one thing different. We got size. We weren't that concerned. That was an outlier game and it was an amazing outlier game,” Rivers said in his postgame presser, via Heat Central on X (formerly Twitter).

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Bucks' playoff hopes diminish by the day

Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) dunks
© Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Bucks got a glimmer of hope as far as their playoff hopes were concerned when Giannis Antetokounmpo returned from a calf strain. But since his return on the second of March, the Bucks have won just one of their six games, with that lone win coming against the tanking Utah Jazz.

They are now six games back of the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference standings, and missing out on the playoffs might be the final nail in the coffin of Antetokounmpo's stint in Milwaukee.