Milwaukee Bucks players returned to NBA action on Thursday to beat Miami Heat 125-96 at home, having had their previous game away to the New Orleans Pelicans postponed due to a huge winter storm.

The weather had grounded the Bucks in New Orleans, meaning they were unable to practice and only arrived in Milwaukee around two hours before tip-off on Thursday.

With the players having been stuck in their hotel for three days, Bobby Portis said: "It felt like it was COVID all over again. We were just in the room just chilling."

Coach Doc Rivers, meanwhile, was pleased to get the win after what he described as "just a strange, long couple of days."

With players making it clear that they wanted to play, and the start delayed by an hour, Rivers called on players to evoke the days of their high school basketball travel days.

Before boarding the bus, Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetekounmpo also let the rest of the team know that there would be no excuses going into the game against the Heat.

Straight off the plane for our fifth-straight win. pic.twitter.com/adc2Rm9Ft6

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) January 24, 2025

"As a leader of the team, you got to let the team know off the rip, we not doing that," said Lillard, who had 29 points and 11 assists and finished one rebound off of his first Bucks triple-double.

"We not having excuses. I don't care about the flight, I don't care we've been in a hotel. Ain't going to be no excuses tonight, you got to go out here and jump on them like we've been doing.

"No excuses if something goes wrong, we can't be looking at it as a crutch or nothing like that."

While the Heat went 20-5 ahead after what Antetokounmpo called a "sloppy" opening 10 minutes, the Bucks came back to go into half-time at 71-55.

"The only difference is that we had to take a flight," said Antetokounmpo. "At the end of the day, if you could call this adversity, I think the team responded very well facing this adversity that we had to take a flight for two hours before the game."

No sooner had they returned, than the Bucks are back on their travels with a four-game swing on the west coast, which begins on Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

"How crazy is that?" Antetokounmpo said. "It's insane. Yeah. Go back home, spend one or two hours with your family and after that you got to wake up, get ready, pack your bags, and 9:30, be in the airport. Get ready for these four games in seven days."