Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat caught fire down the stretch on Friday to beat the Chicago Bulls 102-91 and reach the NBA playoffs, as the Minnesota Timberwolves dominated the Oklahoma City Thunder to book their post-season berth.
Miami, smarting from a loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday, clinched the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final seed to set up a meeting with the top seeded Milwaukee Bucks today.
Minnesota are to face Western Conference top seeds Denver in the first round of the playoffs after a comprehensive 120-95 blowout of Oklahoma City.
Photo: Sam Navarro-USA Today
While Minnesota romped into the post-season, Miami’s clash with Chicago went down to the wire before Butler, helped by the three-pointers of Max Strus, secured victory for coach Erik Spoelstra’s team.
Butler put up 31 points, a tally matched by Strus who shot 7-12 on three-pointers, including a crucial 26 foot jumper with 1 minute, 14 seconds left that put Miami 96-91 up.
For Strus, who grew up as a Bulls fan in the suburbs of Chicago and was released by them before joining Miami, it was a sweet night.
“It’s huge. It doesn’t really matter who we’re playing — we had to win this one, no matter what. It was win or go home and we’re not done yet,” Strus said.
“So we want to keep playing and it’s good to get that one, but it does feel a little bit better against them, I’m not gonna lie,” he said.
Strus secured the win with three free throws after he was fouled by Alex Caruso as he tried to make a throw from the corner.
The Heat had been 14 points up in the first quarter but a 12-2 run from the Bulls in the third leveled the game up at 56-56.
A Zach LaVine dunk then put Chicago up for the first time since the opening basket of the game, and three three-pointers early in the fourth from Coby White ensured the Bulls were 90-87 with 3 minutes to go.
However, Butler and Strus then took control.
Butler was fouled while making a layup and then Bam Adebayo, who grabbed 17 rebounds, sank two free throws after he was fouled by Nikola Vucevic to make it 93-90.
Butler set up Strus for a three-pointer before he made sure of the victory from the free-throw line.
DeMar DeRozan top scored for the Bulls with 26 points and nine assists.
In Minneapolis, the Timberwolves demolished Oklahoma City.
Minnesota led by as many as 29 points at one stage in the fourth quarter and were up by double digits for most of the second half.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves scoring with 28 points, while all five starters finished in double figures.
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