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Bucks jump on Heat early, cruise to win

Dec 16, 2008 - 4:31 AM By Christopher Stock PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MIAMI (Ticker) -- Michael Redd scored 21 points, Andrew Bogut had 20 and 11 rebounds and Charlie Villanueva scored 20 to lead the Milwaukee Bucks past the Miami Heat, 98-83, on Monday.

Richard Jefferson also scored in double figures with 14 for Milwaukee, which never trailed and led by as many as 23 points in the first half.

The win snapped a six-game road losing streak for Milwaukee.

"It's a heck of a road win for us," Bucks coach Scott Skiles said.

Milwaukee got off to a quick start as Redd scored 16 points in the first quarter to help the Bucks to a 27-18 at the end of the quarter.

"I wanted to set a tone," Redd said. "I floated around, knocked some threes down, having some fun and wanted to take a challenge at (Dwyane) Wade."

The lead ballooned to 53-30 with 1:34 left before halftime as the Bucks got a huge boost off the bench from Villanueva, who scored 14 in the second quarter. Milwaukee went into the locker rooms with a 56-36 bulge.

The Heat pulled within 77-65 after three quarters when rookie Mario Chalmers stole the ball from Ramon Sessions at mid-court and slammed home a dunk to cap a 13-4 run to end the frame.

"I definitely thought we had momentum there," Chalmers said. "We cut it down to 12 and I thought we were on our way to coming back. Then they came out in the fourth quarter and hit some big shots."

Milwaukee controlled much of the fourth quarter, leading by as many as 17, but the Heat cut the deficit to 92-83 on a 3-pointer by Daequan Cook with 3:04 remaining.

Villanueva answered with back-to-back baskets for the Bucks to end the Heat's comeback hopes.

"There are a lot of teams in the Eastern Conference that are either going through a tough stretch right now or have been through a tough stretch," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Now, we are one of those teams."

Miami lost its third consecutive game as All-Star Dwyane Wade was held in check with 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Wade scored 17 points on 5-of-16 shooting in Sunday's loss at Memphis.

"I've been in the league six years, you are going to go through that as long as you are playing basketball," Wade said. "Only thing I can do is to continue to keep going, continue to keep shooting, continue to keep driving to the basket and hopefully some things go my way."

Chalmers led the Heat with 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.