The Heat stunned the Bucks on the road Wednesday night to move into the second round of the playoffs, winning 128-126 in overtime after more Jimmy Butler heroics. Milwaukee led by as much as 16 points in the fourth quarter, but Butler tied the game at 111 apiece with 2:11 remaining, setting up another nervy finish.
It was all Miami in overtime, as the Heat never trailed and led by as much as seven en route to their series-clinching victory. The Bucks appeared to be in good shape when Jrue Holiday hit his free throws to put Milwaukee up by four with 14 seconds left. But a quick Gabe Vincent three-pointer cut the lead to one, and an outrageous midair fadeaway from Butler off of an inbound dropped in with 0.1 seconds left after Holiday split a pair from the line – sending the game to OT.
‘Because we’ve been in so many of these close games in the fourth quarter, our guys take pride a lot of pride in our mental toughness and physical toughness going down the stretch, particularly in close games,’ Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. ‘We had to show that. We had to show that in all four of the wins.’
After calling a timeout, the Heat got the ball to Butler, whose 3-point attempt missed with 18 seconds left. Holiday made two free throws with 14 seconds remaining to make it a four-point game, but Vincent’s 3-pointer cut the lead to one with 8.4 seconds left.
The Heat tied the game on two occasions late in the fourth quarter before Middleton made two free throws to put Milwaukee back ahead with 27.8 seconds left. Then things really got interesting.
The Bucks had the ball in the backcourt when Holiday threw an errant pass that eluded Middleton. Miami’s Kyle Lowry initially was called for a foul as he chased the loose ball, but the Heat successfully challenged the call and it was ruled a jump ball.
After the Heat called timeout, Vincent stood in front of the Bucks bench and threw an inbounds pass to Butler, who was waiting under the basket to make the tying score.
Brook Lopez tipped the ball to Antetokounmpo, whose pass nearly went out of bounds before Middleton saved it to Holiday. After getting fouled with 2.1 seconds left, Holiday missed his first free throw before sinking the second to make it 118-116.
‘Just get the ball to Jimmy,’ Vincent said. ‘The game plan was simple: Get the ball to Buckets and let him do what he do,’ Vincent said. ‘Max set a great screen, Jimmy created some space and went up and got it.’
The Bucks shot just 5 of 25 from the floor in the fourth quarter and overtime. Butler had another tremendous game for the Heat, piling in 42 points in the win after scoring 56 in Game 4. Bam Adebayo had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Gabe Vincent added 22 points.
Antetokounmpo, who returned in Game 4 from a back contusion suffered in Game 1, had 38 points in the loss. The Heat are just the sixth No. 8 seed to upset a No. 1 seed in NBA history. 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 Wednesday. Game 1 is Sunday in New York.
The last time it happened was in 2012, when a Philadelphia 76ers team featuring current Bucks guard Jrue Holiday capitalized on Derrick Rose’s knee injury to beat the top-seeded Chicago Bulls.
