Heat edge Bucks, take 2-0 lead against top seed
Jimmy Butler made two free throws with no time remaining and the Miami Heat wasted a six-point lead in the final seconds yet found a way to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 116114 on Wednesday night for a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Butler rattled in the first, which was the only one that mattered, then made the second for the final margin. He got fouled by Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo with about a tenth of a second left on a jump shot from the left corner.
Referees sent Butler to the line, with no one else on the lane, as some Heat teammates knelt at midcourt.
“In the judgment of the officials, the foul occurred, I guess, at some point when he landed,” Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer said. “In the judgment of the officials, there was enough to warrant a foul.”
And just like that, the Heat became the first No. 5 seed in NBA history to take a 2-0 series lead over a No. 1 seed.
“I knew I was going to make one,” Butler said. “That’s all that we needed.”
Goran Dragic scored 23 points, Tyler Herro added 17 off the bench and Jae Crowder had 16 for Miami.
Bam Adebayo scored 15 points, Butler and Duncan Robinson each had 13 and Kelly Olynyk added 11 for Miami — which is 6-0 in this postseason.
Antetokounmpo had 29 points and 14 rebounds for the Bucks, who were down by six with 27 seconds left and tied it. Khris Middleton scored 23 points for Milwaukee, the last three of those coming when Dragic was called for fouling him with 4.3 seconds left.
Milwaukee got 16 apiece from Brook Lopez and Eric Bledsoe and 14 from George Hill.
BLAZERS’ ARIZA DENIES ALLEGATIONS HE ABUSED SON
>> A Los Angeles judge has issued a temporary restraining order keeping the Portland Trail Blazers’ Trevor Ariza away from his 12-year-old son after the boy’s mother alleged Ariza had physically abused him.
Ariza strongly denied the abuse allegations, saying the boy’s mother, his former girlfriend Lana Allen, had engaged in a long campaign to hurt his relationship with his son and to take away his visitation rights, according to court papers obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday.