Butler leads Heat past Lakers
Without Adebayo or Dragic, Butler powers Heat by Lakers; LA’s series lead gets cut to 2-1
This wasn’t about what the Miami Heat didn’t have, as sidelined Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic looked on fromthe bench.
Thiswas about the irrepressible force that wouldn’t allow Erik Spoelstra’s team to lose.
And, so, there will be no sweep in these NBA Finals,
And, yes, the Heat just might actually have a chance after closing within 1-2 in this bestofseries with Sunday night’s 115-104 victory over the Los Angeles Laker sat Disney’ s Wide World of Sport complex.
Because Jimmy Butler did it, with his first career playoff triple-double, produced as the game’s most dominating force, with 40 points, 13 assists and11 rebounds.
It was a night when LeBron James, with 25 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists couldn’t keep pace.
A night when Anthony Davis, mired in foul trouble, turned mortal for the first time in the series, with15 points.
“We have a great competitive spirit that you see,” Spoelstra said
Yes, therewere17 points apiece from Kelly Olynyk and Tyler Herro, but that was nothing more than a support system.
The Heat moved ahead 103-95 with 3:48 to play on a Butler jumper, giving him 34 points at that stage. And he just kept going.
“I don’t care about a triple-double. I want to win. We did that,” Butler said. “I think that we realized thatwe belong.”
Game 4 is 9 p.m. Tueesday.
Five degrees of Heat from Sunday night’s game:
1. Butler sets tone: Butler entered more than aware of the moment.
“We get one tonight,” he hinted in his courtside pregame interview, “we might be up to something.”
He then tried to set the tone, closing the first quarter with eight points and the half with19 on 8-of-12 shooting, when he also had six assists and six rebounds.
It was the first time Butler had at least 15-5-5 in a half of a playoff game.
From there, he scored 11 in the third quarter, with 30 points going into the fourth, including 8 of 10 from the line over the first three periods. That had him joining Dwyane Wade and James as the only Heat players with 30 or more in a Final game.
“He’s in the top percentile of competitors
in this entire Association,” Spoelstra said after the third quarter.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel went in stressing a priority of limiting Butler’s free throws.
“We’ve got to keep Jimmy off the line, more than anything,” he said. “He’s obviously great at attacking the basket and initiating contact and getting himself to the free-throw line. We have to be more disciplined on contact.”
Butler said itwas difficult to deny what the Heat lacked without Adebayo and Dragic.
“It tough,” he said. “We love those guys as human beings, definitely love them as basketball players.”
2. Harsh reality: Spoelstra said the team was left with no choice other than going without Adebayo and Dragic.
“Both Goran and Bam are literally like family members,” Spoelstra said, with Adebayo out with a neck strain and Dragic with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot. “And I can see that anguish, literally, in their eyes, both of ‘em. And everybody in the locker room feels it.
“I know them, in their soul, they both will do anything to get out there. And it puts me in a different position. We also have to be responsible. That’s out of love for them.”
He declined to speculate about a return for either this series.
“They both are making progress,” hesaid. “Theyare not ready to play or compete in this game, at this intensity level.
3. LeBron time: With Davis dealing with foul trouble, James kept the Lakers afloat, with 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists through three quarters.
With his second assist, early in the first quarter, James passed John Stockton (1,839) for second place in career playoff assists. Magic Johnson is the alltime leader, at 2,346.
He later in the opening period recorded his 250th career playoff blocked shot.
And with his ninth freethrow attempt, he passed Shaquille O’Neal for the alltime playoff lead. James already had the record for free throws made.
4. Davis’ travails: The Heat finally found a way to slow Davis: foul trouble. He was called for his second foul with 4:28 to play in the
opening period, his third with 5:28 left in the second and his third just 1:38 left in the fourth.
Vogel, however, allowed Davis to play through that fourth foul, with the Lakers closing within 85-80 going into the fourth.
5. More Olynyk: After a breakout 24-point performance in Game 2, Olynyk again reloaded, maximizing assists from Butler and Andre Iguodala, as his scoring kept the Heat bench competitive with a surprisingly efficient Lakers cast of reserves, including Markieff Morris and Kyle Kuzma.