MILWAUKEE — Still glued to his blue Sharpie long into his postgame interview, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra hesitated when asked to detail the diagrammed jaw-dropping, save play but Jimmy bravely listened Butler before even releasing the incredible.
“I’ll let him tell the story because I have a different variation of it,” Spoelstra said. “And he looked me dead in the eye… .”
And Butler made himself clear.
“You can’t use those words he said on television,” Heat guard Kyle Lowry said. “But it had two bombs in there. And they were F’s. And it worked.”
It’s a play the Heat have practiced. Miami stunned Houston in a similar last-second set in February. But on Wednesday night inside the Fiserv Forum, Spoelstra wanted to pucker up.
“I was going to do a different version of it,” Spoelstra said, “and he (Butler) just said ‘No, let me be that.’ ”
Two nights after assembling his record-setting, 56-point masterpiece in Game 4, Butler finished the job, and Miami dispatched the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks with a 128-126 overtime win in Game 5 of their playoff series. .
So much happened here in this stunning series-clincher. But neither play showed how Butler dissected and dominated the Bucks overall, or how the Heat beat them overall to become the No. 6 seed. 8 seed in NBA history to win a first-round series, like Miami’s final play of regulation.
Gabe Vincent is the inbounder. Only 2.1 seconds left. Both followed Miami. Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, with his 6-foot-11 frame and his 7-foot-3 wingspan, covered the 6-foot-3 Vincent on the sideline. Vincent, standing near the Bucks’ bench, took two steps back and prayed into the air. Butler was still shaking.
“I mean, Jrue Holiday is one of the best defenders on the planet,” Spoelstra said of the Bucks guard. “So if you’re going to throw something like that, you better pinpoint, and you better have a Megatron-type guy who can go up there, make a little contact and then somehow find a way to the basket is it.
“But this kind of epitomizes JB.”
Butler ran a Max Strus cross-screen under the rim, curled back into the lane and skied for Vincent’s two-handed, over-the-head pass.
“I just have to throw the ball out there,” Vincent said. “I have Giannis. Who else will compete with Jimmy to get it? (Bam Adebayo)? He is with our team. For me, it’s easy. I have full confidence in Jimmy.
“We ran something like that, and he dunked it. I just thought I had to get Giannis back. That was the hardest part. Once I took two steps back and put it up for Jimmy, it was him leave it to others.”
Butler found daylight behind Holiday and Bucks wing Pat Connaughton on the right block. He grabbed the ball in the air with one hand, while Connaughton held or pushed him, depending on your area code. In one move, while falling backward, Butler flicked his wrist and flicked in an incredible shot with 0.5 seconds left in regulation.
“It was a perfect pass from Gabe,” Spoelstra said. “Gabe made a similar pass like that earlier in the season. But Jimmy just made an incredible play.
The possession punctuated the second straight Heat fourth-quarter rally. In Game 4, Miami rallied from a 14-point deficit. In Game 5, the Bucks owned a 16-point lead going into the final period. The Heat held the Bucks to 3-of-19 shooting in the fourth quarter, limiting them to just one field goal in the first eight minutes of the period.
Butler scored 14 of his game-high 42 points in the fourth quarter, fueling the Heat’s game-changing 32-16 frame. With the final bucket of regulation, he showed the intelligence that Spoelstra talked about following in Game 4. The way Butler described it, it was as if he had been preparing for this moment all series.
“You could just tell, the whole series, that Jrue wasn’t taking me away,” Butler said. “He will not take the gap. He won’t do that. So I said, ‘I guarantee you every time I turn this corner, he’s going to be locking and trailing. He has no choice but to stay behind.’
“He (Spoelstra) trusted me in that moment, like he’s done so many times. … He was, like, ‘Okay, man. Take us home.’ ”
Butler’s averages in this series look like something out of a video game, certainly not the kind of numbers usually amassed against a championship favorite featuring arguably the best player in the world. He finished with averages of 37.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.8 steals. He averaged 23.8 shots but made 59.7 percent, including 44.4 percent of his 5.4 3-pointers per game.
“I’m just in a groove. I was in a rhythm,” Butler said. “I’ve shot the ball an unbelievable amount in this series. But I feel like they’re all shots that I know I can make, and my teammates keep telling me to shoot the ball, attack. That’s all that happened. But no matter what, if I’m scoring, if I’m defending, rebounding, whatever it is, we just have to win. Win at all costs. And we did that.”
A second-round series against old rivals the New York Knicks will follow. Game 1 is set for noon (ET) Sunday.
But the Heat don’t advance without receiving big contributions up and down their roster while playing with a never-say-die mentality throughout. The list is long with everything Miami has overcome to get here.
Two weeks ago, the Heat were on the verge of bouncing out of the Play-In Tournament. They rallied and entered the playoffs as No. 8-seeded team. They benefited from Antetokounmpo’s absence for the better part of the first three contests in this series. But they endured Tyler Herro suffering a season-ending broken wrist in Game 1 and Victor Oladipo to a knee injury in Game 3.
On Wednesday, the Heat overcame the Bucks’ onslaughts in the second and third quarters. Milwaukee outscored Miami 69-50 in the middle periods.
“I don’t think we lost confidence in ourselves,” Vincent said. “We keep it pretty tight within our locker room and what we believe within ourselves is what we can do. And we had faith in our ability to carry out the stretch. We’ve had a lot of close games this season. We know we can make a run if we can just cut it to 10 or cut it to six.
Miami played the second most clutch games in the regular season with 54. The Heat went 32-22 in those games. The team’s 22nd-ranked defense post-All-Star break transformed into the NBA’s most vicious unit in clutch time, holding opponents to 87.2 points per 100 possessions. What the Heat got in the last two games against the Bucks is nothing new.
“It’s just one of these seasons for whatever reason,” Spoelstra said. “We faced many difficulties. Guys in and out of the lineup. All of these clutch games. Close the games. Must go through Play-In. This seems to be the end of our second-round series.
“Whatever the reason — and this is what you always hope for — all these experiences bring this team closer, more connected. On the other hand, this is just an example of the many difficulties and resilience that we have to show.”
The Heat just couldn’t overcome rallies and double-digit deficits. They also overcame the Bucks’ huge advantage and Milwaukee’s massive free-throw differential. Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez alternate playing bully ball, getting up and shooting shorter Heat defenders. The frontcourt duo combined for 56 points on 21-of-38 shooting. Antetokounmpo, with 23 free throws, attempted more on the Heat and almost made more. Milwaukee shot 28 of 45 from the foul line with Antetokounmpo finishing 10 of 23. The Heat were 11 of 17.
They endured the hot hand of Khris Middleton. The Bucks sharpshooter scored 17 points in the first quarter and 11 in the third. But in the fourth quarter and overtime, Middleton managed just five points on 0-of-5 shooting.
And Miami weathered foul trouble. Kevin Love, Adebayo and Lowry all fouled out on Wednesday. Love was big again with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Adebayo’s 20-point, 10-rebound, 10-assist triple-double doesn’t even tell the full story of how he changed the complexion of the game in the fourth quarter and overtime with his playmaking and defense of Antetokounmpo. And Lowry provided 10 much-needed points off the bench with timely shots.
The Heat just kept plugging and playing.
“We just kind of stayed the course. Never go too high. Never too down,” said Lowry.
“And we have Jimmy Butler.”
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(Photo by Jimmy Butler: Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
