Miami Heat takes lead in NBA Playoffs with Jimmy Butler's great game

2023-05-07 00:15:15

The Miami Heat celebrated at home and, thanks to Jimmy Butler’s great game, took the lead (2-1) in the NBA Playoffs key against the New York Knicks.

Los Heat were imposed this Saturday in Miami on the New York Knicks (105-86) and took a 2-1 lead in this semifinal of the East of the NBA Playoffs, thanks to a Jimmy Butler who had 28 points after missing Game 2 with a knee injury.

Bam Adebayo (17 points and 12 rebounds), Max Strus (19 points) and Kyle Lowry (14 points coming off the bench) also stood out for the Heat who controlled the game from start to finish.

The Knicks had a very lackadaisical performance in attack, with only 34.1% shooting from the field and a measly 20% in triples (8 of 40).

Jalen Brunson he contributed 20 points (7 of 20 on shots, 0 of 5 on triples), 6 rebounds and 8 assists; and Julius Randle was far from his level with only 10 points (4 of 15 on basket attempts, 0 of 5 on 3-pointers) and 14 rebounds.

The fourth game of this tie will be played on Monday, May 8, also in Miami.

Butler’s return excites the Heat in the NBA

Butler started strong, opened the scoring for the locals and guided the Heat who in the first quarter were winning by 13 points.

More successful in attack and focused on defense, the Miami men had 10 points from their star in that period and came to the conclusion of the first set 8 points above (29-21), against some Knicks with a very deflected (8 of 25 shooting, 0 of 4 3-pointers).

The first two triples of the Knicks came from the hand of Immanuel Quickleybut Butler, who for a large part of the second quarter was more focused on defense than offense, reacted to the decrease in the Heat’s lead with 5 points so that his team went to halftime with a remarkable margin (58-44 ).

With the two teams shining more in defense than in attack, the third set began with a new spurt for the Heat, who with Butler, Strus and Adebayo in front surpassed the 20-point difference on the scoreboard for the first time.

However, that third quarter ended with a brawl in which Cody Zeller shoved Randle, Isaiah Hartenstein shoved Zeller, and Caleb Martin answered Hartenstein with another shov. (except Randle, all of them took a technique).

With Butler resting, Adebayo hung from the rim and Lowry continued to give good minutes off the bench to put Miami at +22 that seemed definitive. However, the Knicks responded with a 0-8 run and came within 13 points with more than four minutes to play, so Butler returned to court to silence an unlikely epic comeback attempt from the visitors for good.