Jimmy Butler on Wednesday scored 42 points as the Miami Heat staged a second straight stunning fourth-quarter rally before winning 128-126 in overtime in Game 5 to eliminate the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks from the NBA playoffs.
Butler was an extraordinary playmaker while leading the Heat to one of the most stunning first-round playoff upsets in NBA history.
It turns out he was also a heck of a play caller.
Photo: AFP
“We’re a resilient group,” Butler said. “We stick together through everything.”
The Heat advanced to a second-round series with the fifth-seeded New York Knicks, who completed their 4-1 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier on Wednesday. Game 1 is scheduled for Sunday in New York.
Miami, who had to win a play-in game against the Chicago Bulls just to get to the first round, became the sixth No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1-seeded team.
Photo: Michael McLoone-USA TODAY
The previous time it happened was in 2012, when the Philadelphia 76ers featuring current Bucks guard Jrue Holiday capitalized on Derrick Rose’s knee injury to beat the top-seeded Bulls.
Two nights after outscoring the Bucks 30-13 in the final six minutes of a 119-115 victory in Miami, the Heat came back from a 16-point, fourth-quarter deficit and tied the game on Butler’s layup with half a second left in regulation time.
The Heat trailed 118-116 with 2.1 seconds left and called a timeout when coach Erik Spoelstra drew up a play.
Butler did not like what he saw and spoke up about it.
Spoelstra then changed his mind and set up the tying play, which had Gabe Vincent throwing an inbound pass to Butler, who was waiting underneath the basket to force overtime.
“We’ve practiced variations of that play with a bunch of different guys,” Spoelstra said. “I was going to do a different version of it. He just said: ‘No, let me be that guy.’ I just said: ‘OK, but what if we can’t get that pass.’ He said: ‘I’ll get it. Don’t worry about it.’”
Butler delivered, as he did this entire series.
He averaged 37.6 points, including a 56-point effort in Game 4.
“He’s desperate and urgent and maniacal and sometimes psychotic about the will to try to win,” Spoelstra said. “He’ll make everybody in the building feel it. That’s why he is us and we are him. That’s the way we operate as well.”
Bam Adebayo put the Heat ahead for good by dunking in a putback of Butler’s missed driving layup attempt with 4 minutes, 44 seconds left in overtime.
The Bucks trailed 128-126 and had the ball in the closing seconds, but the clock ran out before Grayson Allen could take a shot as he drove to the basket.
The Bucks had timeouts, but did not use them in the closing seconds of overtime.
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said he did not regret not using a timeout in that situation.
He did regret not calling a timeout with half a second left in regulation time after Butler’s basket.
Asked after the game if a first-round playoff exit made this season a failure, Giannis Antetokounmpo took issue with the question.
“There’s no failure in sports,” Antetokounmpo said. “There’s good days, bad days. Some days you’re able to be successful. Some days you’re not. Some days it’s your turn. Some days it’s not your turn. That’s what sports is about. You don’t always win.”
In Sacremento, California, the Golden State Warriors had another road win, with Stephen Curry scoring 31 points and Draymond Green completing his highest-scoring game in more than five years in their 123-116 win over the Kings to take a 3-2 lead.
The Warriors won a road game for the NBA-record 28th straight playoff series, encompassing the entire era of Curry, Green and Klay Thompson.
“The experience that they’ve had over the last decade playing in a lot of big games, it’s definitely helpful,” coach Steve Kerr said. “I thought they did a great job tonight of staying poised down the stretch when Sacramento made their run and really made some big plays in the last five minutes to seal it.”
In Memphis, Tennessee, the Grizzlies staved off elimination by beating the Lakers 116-99, cutting Los Angeles’ lead in the series to 3-2.
Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday pulled off a major upset in the DFB-Pokal by defeating defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 in their semi-final. The third-division team came from behind after Jonathan Tah gave the visitors a 17th-minute lead. Marius Worl replied three minutes later and Maximilian Groser scored Bielefeld’s second goal just before the break. The home team looked more likely to add to that tally as the Leverkusen players looked jaded. “I’m just proud of this team,” Bielefeld coach Mitch Kniat said as most of the fans the small stadium sang around him. “No one will sleep in the city tonight.” Patrik Schick went
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday. A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league
RECORD WINNERS: The Catalan club, who are still in contention for a historic quadruple this season, are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final Barcelona are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final after Ferran Torres secured them a 1-0 win at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, progressing 5-4 on aggregate from the semi-final tie. Record 31-time winners Barca had the better of the clash at the Metropolitano after the wild 4-4 first-leg draw. The defeat leaves Diego Simeone’s Atletico with little to play for in the rest of the season. By contrast, the Catalans are on the hunt for a potential quadruple and are unbeaten this year, stretching their run to 21 games without defeat. Atletico were the last team to triumph
RSS