1. If you’ve been watching this series through three games and thought to yourself, ‘There’s no way the HEAT, much less the Bucks, can keep up this level of shotmaking,’ nobody would have blamed you at all. Except for, maybe, Jimmy Butler. What we’ve been witness to, with Miami hitting literally half of their threes on their way to taking a 2-1 series lead, has been one of the most impressive shooting stretches in modern NBA history.
And yet the HEAT came right back with one more three after another tonight. While Butler was playing the hero in the first quarter, the rest of the team struggled to get anything going inside the arc. From the outside? They dropped in 10-of-23 from three, Kevin Love, Gabe Vincent and Duncan Robinson all making at least two. Butler was the story, though. With Milwaukee’s offense playing with all the added force and downhill purpose as you would expect from a team with Giannis Antetokounmpo – yes, he’s back – you could feel the game on the precipice early on as the Bucks went up 15-5 and then 20-10. What we saw from Butler at that point, with 22 in the first, was nothing short of sensational. Mixing in a dunk through contact from Antetokounmpo and sneaking in another layup around him, Butler shot 7-of-8 on jumpers, with another two threes, to almost single handedly keep Miami in the game. Milwaukee led, 57-50, at the break, and without Butler – after his 24, only Robinson had more than six points – it would have looked far, far worse.
Much of the same in the third. Milwaukee playing from the front, working the paint diligently, while Butler – trying to work the pick-and-roll with Bam Adebayo – did his best to keep his team in the fight. At one point the Bucks were essentially double-teaming Butler in the paint, with Lopez sagging off Adebayo so far he could sandwich Butler alongside Jrue Holiday, an opportunity Adebayo took to try and dunk on Lopez, drawing an and-one. The Bucks kept threatening to pull away, leading by 15 at one point. Butler kept pulling Miami back. Bucks by 11 going into the fourth.
The run came late, but the run came. With 4:15 to play, Milwaukee’s offense beginning to stagnate. Miami tied it up on five-straight points from Caleb Martin, including a stand-up three over Antetokounmpo. Another Bucks turnover later, the HEAT led by one, a 13-0 run. Back and forth, haymakers being traded. Then, Jimmy. Just, Jimmy. If you take anything away from this game, it’s Jimmy. For the rest of time and the future history of this league, everyone is going to remember Butler’s 56, a franchise postseason high and a personal career high. Without Butler, this series is 2-2. With him, Miami is one win away from being the fourth team in NBA history to knock off a No. 8 seed in a seven-game series.
2. What we’re seeing from Jimmy Butler – what we’ve been seeing for years, really, but especially tonight – is one of the greatest playoff performers of a generation. It’s almost beyond description the way he routinely finds a way to show up in the biggest spots and the biggest games, or at the very least it’s beyond analysis. We can sit here all day and talk about the ways Butler utilizes his strength and flexibility to work his way into the shots he wants, but at the end of the day a make is a make and the fact that Butler did something like follow up a 4-of-4 night from three in Game 3 with another barrage of jumpers is something you can only really chalk up to greatness. It’s not a mistake that his 22 in the first tied Dwyane Wade for the franchise high for points in a postseason quarter. Different players, but we’re talking the same status as near-mythic playoff abilities.
Remember last year, when Butler went for the win in Game 7 against Boston, and the shot hit front iron? This time, he went for the kill and didn’t miss, pulling up for three in the final minutes and then draining another jumper to push Miami out front. No fear. Credit Martin for hitting some big shots as part of the late run, but Butler was the heart and soul of everything that happened late. There’s no other way to say it than that everyone who watched this game, who watched Butler get to 56 on 19-of-28 shooting, saw one of the best postseason performances in the long, long history of the league.
3. With Antetokounmpo back, the Bucks were no longer an outside-in team, something they’ve mostly been this series outside of the first quarter of Game 2 when they executed a purposeful plan to get Lopez the ball inside. With all that length back on the floor, and Antetokounmpo charging toward the rim, Milwaukee had a 19-to-5 advantage in restricted area attempts through the first two periods.
For as well as the HEAT have been able to score on this Bucks team without Antetokounmpo in the game, always knowing there was space being conceded to them in the middle of the floor, tonight’s efforts on that end were far more laborious. Even Butler had to use some of the most clever footwork you’ll find in the league to maneuver around all the size around the rim, a body always between the cup and the ball, an arm or two always up and ready to contest. Toward the end of the third quarter, Miami was only 5-of-12 at the rim and 7-of-18 in the upper paint. Why do we say all that on a night the HEAT pulled out an incredible come-from-behind victory? Butler, again. He was 3-of-3 at the rim, 8-of-10 in the paint and 5-of-7 from mid-range. All that length bothering him not at all.