An unstoppable Jimmy Butler, again dominant with 42 points, gave the Miami Heat a 128-126 victory against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday to close the first round series of the playoffs 4-1, knocking out the first seed in the East. and the team with the best balance in the NBA.
After the 56 points in the fourth game, 19 of which came in the last five minutes, Butler forced overtime this Wednesday with an acrobatic game with 0.5 seconds left and ended his game with 42 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two raids.
The Heat rallied from 16 points behind in the fourth quarter and penalized the Bucks far from their usual level, who chained together an endless series of fouls, culminating in the final play, when Grayson Allen failed to take the final shot as he didn’t find out that time pressed on.
Miami, which had a regular season with more downs than ups, recovered its level in the postseason, with a rocky defense and an unstoppable leader like Butler.
He was backed by a leading Bam Adebayo with a triple double of 20 points, ten rebounds and ten assists and a Gabe Vincent of 22 points and four triples.
The Bucks were already thinking about Game 6, to be played Friday in Miami, when they had a 16-point lead at the end of the third quarter, but they completely stalled.
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 38 points, 20 rebounds and three assists, but completely choked in free practice. He finished with a modest ten of 23 that took its toll on the Bucks.
And that was a 22-5 run in the bottom of the third quarter that seemed to put victory on track, with a powerful Giannis and a Khris Middleton on 33 runs and four triples.
However, the Bucks went six minutes without scoring a single field goal and began the fourth period with one of thirteen shots used by the Heat, with a fifteen-point Kevin Love, to close the gap.
Miami gained confidence and the Bucks began to rush and fear. Mike Budenholzer’s team committed a long string of errors, yet two free throws from Holiday gave them a 118-116 lead with 2.1 to play.
That’s when Butler forced overtime by scoring two acrobatic points, falling back, to make it 118-118 with 0.5 seconds left.
There, the lack of clarity of the Bucks was seen, who did not call a timeout and squandered the chance for a last shot.
Going into overtime, the Heat sat six fouls without Kyle Lowry and Adebayo, but Giannis continued to suffer immensely at the free throw line, conceding many points that would prove decisive.
Butler continued to wreak havoc, with his actions as well as his mere presence, which opened up space for his teammates, as Zeller scored at will 126-119.
Giannis’ proud response brought the Bucks within two points, but the Greek was grossly naive with a foul on Max Strus that earned him three free-kicks.
The Bucks had the last shot, but the ball landed in the hands of Grayson Allen against the rocky defense. He didn’t realize his timer was running out and he couldn’t shoot for the buzzer.
It was the last sentence about the Bucks, who lost the series 4-1 to the Heat who will play the second round against the Knicks.
Source: El heraldo
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
