Miami Heat Rally to Take Down Top-Seeded Milwaukee Bucks in OT Thriller

Jimmy Butler did an amazing job in leading the Miami Heat to win a shocking first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks. Not only did he score 42 points, but he was also really good at making decisions during the game. The Heat won 128-126 in overtime and they didn’t give up – they stayed together no matter what happened.

The Heat are going to the next round of playoffs and will face the New York Knicks. The Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier this Wednesday, so they won their series 4-1. The first game between The Heat and Knicks is on Sunday in New York.

Miami won a special game against Chicago which meant they could move on to have their first-ever fight with the No. 1 seed team. This has happened before, in 2012 when a team that had Bucks guard Jrue Holiday in it (Philadelphia 76ers) was able to win against the top-seeded Chicago Bulls because Derrick Rose, who played for Bulls at that time, got injured.

Two nights ago, the Heat beat the Bucks 119-115 in Miami by scoring 30 points to the Bucks’ 13 points within the last 6 minutes. Last night, they faced another tough challenge as they were behind by 16 points late in the final quarter. However, with just a half second left on the clock, Jimmy Butler scored an important layup which tied everything up.

The Miami Heat had a two point deficit with only 2.1 seconds left on the clock, so their coach Erik Spoelstra called a timeout. Jimmy Butler didn’t like the initial plan, and so he spoke up about it. Coach then changed his mind and designed a new play instead. This play involved Gabe Vincent throwing the ball to Butler underneath the basket to tie up the game and send it into overtime.

Spoelstra said he was planning to use a different play, but Butler wanted to be the one who could make it happen. He told Spoelstra not to worry and that he would get the pass. Butler did exactly that throughout the series and even scored 56 points in Game 4.

Spoelstra said the Heat, which includes him and all those in the building, have a strong drive to win – desperate, urgent, and eager to do whatever they can. This will help them compete well against the Knicks who just won the series with Cleveland Cavaliers. The first game of this new round is on Sunday in New York.

Bam Adebayo made the Heat win by dunking in a rebound shot from Butler’s missed layup try with 4:44 left in extra time. The Bucks were behind 128-126 and had the ball right before the end, but Grayson Allen didn’t have enough time to shoot as he was driving to the hoop and the buzzer went off.

The Bucks didn’t call a timeout in the final seconds of overtime, but their coach Mike Budenholzer said he wished he had called one with half a second left in regulation after Butler made the basket. Adebayo scored 20 points, got 10 rebounds and gave 10 assists. Gabe Vincent added 22 points.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 38 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the Bucks game but only made 10 out of his 23 free-throw attempts. Khris Middleton added 33 points.

After the game, when asked if a first round playoff exit meant that this season wasn’t successful, Giannis disagreed with the question.

Giannis Antetokounmpo said that sports is about having good days and bad days. You can’t always win but that’s OK. It’s sometimes your turn to be successful but at other times you may not be as lucky.

The Milwaukee Bucks scored 102 points compared to the Miami Heat’s 86 points during Tuesday night’s game. This marked a record-breaking feat as it was the biggest lead ever for a winning team in a series-clinching victory, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Later on, the Heat managed to tie the score twice before Milwaukee was given the lead once again with only 27.8 seconds left when Khris Middleton made two successful free throws.

Holiday made two free throws with 14 seconds to go, but Vincent hit a 3-pointer and only 1 point was left between them. Holiday then got fouled again with 2.1 seconds left, but he missed the first try, but managed to make it on his second try to make it 118-116. However, Vincent’s great pass didn’t let the game end at that moment because Butler was able to use the pass to force overtime and eventually win for the Heat in round two.

Adebayo said, “Everyone who got on that bus was really hopeful that we could do something people thought wasn’t possible.”

During a second-quarter timeout, Udonis Haslem from the Heat team got a technical foul after arguing with Bobby Portis from Milwaukee. Coaching his 100th career playoff victory, Spoelstra tied Larry Brown for fifth place on the All-Time list and passed Red Auerbach’s 99 wins in 6th. The match enabled Heat to improve their 3-1 postseason series against the Bucks; they won in 2013 and 2020 while lost one in 2021.

Wesley Matthews was back on the court after a calf strain in Game 1. He described it as being really painful to miss three playoff games. After that, the Bucks lost their first round of playoffs since 2018. That time, they were ranked 7th and lost to Boston in seven games.