Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat appeared to be making progress during a season-high four-game winning streak at the beginning of the month. Back-to-back losses, however, indicate there's still plenty of work to do.

Wade and the Heat look to bounce back from a particularly disheartening defeat and avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season Monday night when they host the Milwaukee Bucks.

Plagued by injuries last season, Miami limped to a league-worst 15-67 record. With Wade healthy and No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley in the rotation, the Heat (12-11) figured to make dramatic improvements in 2008-09.

That looked like a real possibility during the club's 4-0 start to December - the first time this season it had won more than two consecutive games.

The Heat, however, have combined to shoot 37.4 percent from the field in consecutive losses to Atlanta and lowly Memphis. They were outscored 35-20 in the third quarter of their 102-86 loss to the Grizzlies on Sunday.

Wade, the NBA's leading scorer with 28.6 points per game, was held to 17 points and 5-for-16 shooting. After averaging 34.8 points and shooting 50.5 percent during Miami's four-game win streak, he's averaged 19.0 points and shot 35.0 percent (14-for-40) in back-to-back defeats.

With Wade struggling, Beasley stepped up with 20 points off the bench Sunday after missing Friday's loss with the flu. The 6-foot-10 forward out of Kansas State knows the Heat could use more outings like that one to get back on track.

"I'm still trying to find my mojo," said Beasley, who had averaged 9.0 points over his previous three games. "I'm trying to get my (swagger) back. We have to get it right on both ends. Defense is way harder than offense. You can knock a couple of shots down, but you have to get right back on defense."

That may be especially true against a Milwaukee team coming off its best offensive outing of the season. The Bucks (10-15) shot a season-high 51.2 percent from the field and recorded a season-high point total in a 121-103 victory over Indiana on Saturday night.

Milwaukee blew a 21-point lead in that game, but responded by closing on a 19-0 run.

"Several things happened," Bucks coach Scott Skiles said of his team's late rally. "It all factored in. Generally, in the 10 wins, this is what's happened. We've had multiple players making plays. Everybody had a hand in this one."

Bucks center Andrew Bogut did his part, matching his season highs with 20 points and 20 rebounds for his second career 20-20 performance.

"He was very good," Skiles said of Bogut, who was 6-for-11 from the field and 8-for-9 from the free-throw line. "He was just active like seven-footers should be."

The Bucks have lost six straight road games to fall to 4-11 away from Milwaukee this season, and are just 1-7 in Miami since the start of the 2003-04 season. They split two games at AmericanAirlines Arena in 2007-08.

Wade averaged 30.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 3.5 steals in Miami's two losses to Milwaukee last season, and didn't play in either of his team's two wins in the series.