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Doc Rivers Names Surprising 'Hero' in Bucks Crucial Win Over Heat

Matt Levine

Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
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The Milwaukee Bucks came away with a big win over the Miami Heat on Sunday, grabbing their fourth straight victory. In the game, Milwaukee was able to put away the Heat down the stretch, partly due to strong defense from wing Kyle Kuzma.

Kuzma has been showing off his defensive abilities since he was acquired by the Bucks and he stepped up once again. Bucks head coach Doc Rivers has been taking note of this and praised the former NBA champion after the fact.

Rivers even went as far as to say that Kuzma was the 'invisible hero' of the contest. The veteran head coach called out Kuzma's defense on Heat star guard Tyler Herro.

“I thought the invisible hero was Kuz defensively. On Herro in the last four minutes. I thought that was terrific."

“I thought we gave him [Herro] too much space. We talked about it at half-time. You got to get in his inner space and make him uncomfortable. He had a free game, until the mid-third.”

Herro finished the game by scoring 40 points but in the end, Milwaukee got the win. It was a total team effort from the Bucks and it was capped off by Rivers praising his guys.

Kuzma has been very solid for the Bucks since coming over to the team and he gives them some extra size, especially defensively. The wing uses his size to his advantage and it has caused some real issues for opponents of late.

It seems that Kuzma is slowly rounding into form with this Bucks team and the trade for him is paying off. Milwaukee feels like they are in a good groove right now and Kuzma has been a big part of that fact.

Milwaukee is now 32-24 on the season and they are currently sitting in fifth place within the Eastern Conference standings. The Bucks have been battling all season long and this was another case of the team coming together to get a big victory.

More Bucks news:

Bucks in Danger of Losing Homecourt Advantage for First Time Since 2018

How Many Points Did Khris Middleton Score in Wizards Debut vs Bucks?

Bucks' Kyle Kuzma Showed Massive Trade Value in Huge Defense Against Clippers Stars

Khris Middleton Gets Brutally Honest About Bucks Trading Him to Wizards

Bobby Portis Replacement Reacts to New Role With Bucks Following Suspension

For more Bucks news and notes, make sure to head over to Bucks on SI.

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Matt Levine
MATT LEVINE

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