CHICAGO.- An unstoppable Jimmy Butler, again dominating with 42 points, gave the Miami Heat a 128-126 victory Wednesday night at the Milwaukee Bucks and closed the first round of the series 4-1 in Chicago the ‘playoffs ‘, leaving out the first seed in the East and the team with the best balance in the NBA.
After the 56 points sealed in Game 4, including 19 in the final five minutes, on Wednesday, Butler forced overtime with an acrobatic game with 0.5 seconds left and finished his game with 42 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.
The Heat rallied 16 points behind in the fourth quarter and punished the Bucks far from their usual level, who chained an endless series of errors, culminating in the last play, when Grayson Allen did not fire the last shot though he didn’t realize it. that time was running out.
Miami, which had a regular season with more lows than highs, is back to normal in the playoffs, with a rocky defense and an unstoppable leader like Butler.
He was supported by a Bam Adebayo in the lead 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 starting to think about Game 6, which would be played Friday in Miami, when they had a 16-point lead at the end of the third quarter, but they got completely bogged down.
Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 38 points, twenty rebounds and three assists, but was completely choked in free practice. He finished with a modest ten of 23 that took its toll on the Bucks.
And it was a 22-5 run in the second half of the third quarter that seemed to put victory on track, with a powerful Giannis and Khris Middleton with 33 points and four triples.
However, the Bucks went six minutes without scoring a field goal and started the fourth period with one of thirteen shots that were used by the Heat, along with a fifteen-point Kevin Love, to close the gap.
Miami gained confidence and the Bucks started to rush and get scared. Mike Budenholzer’s team made a long string of errors, but two free throws from Holiday still gave them a 118-116 lead with 2.1 to play.
It was then that Butler forced extra time by scoring two acrobatic points, moving back, to make it 118-118 with 0.5 seconds left.
There we saw the lack of lucidity of the Bucks, who did not call a timeout and wasted the opportunity for a last shot.
In overtime, the Heat were deprived of Kyle Lowry and Adebayo for six fouls, but Giannis continued to suffer badly from the free throw line and gave up many points that would prove to be decisive.
Butler continued to do damage, with his plays and also with his mere presence, which opened up spaces for his teammates, when Zeller scored at will 126-119.
Giannis’ proud reaction brought the Bucks down two points, but the Greek was extremely naive with a foul on Max Strus that earned him three free-kicks.
The Bucks had the last shot, but the ball ended up in the hands of Grayson Allen against the rocky defense. He didn’t realize his timer was running out and he couldn’t hit the shot before the buzzer.
That was the last sentence on the Bucks, who lost the series 4-1 to the Heat who will play the Knicks in the second round.