BUTLER, HEAT TURN IT UP IN 3RD QUARTER
His team was down by eight at halftime, and Miami coach Erik Spoelstra went into the locker room ready to deliver a big speech.
Turns out, one wasn’t needed. Jimmy Butler decided to let his play do the talking.
Butler scored 27 of his 41 points in the second half, and a huge third quarter by the Heat carried them to a 118-107 win over the short-handed Boston Celtics 118-107 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night. Game 2 is Thursday.
“Jimmy Butler is an elite competitor,” Spoelstra said. “There’s a lot of guys in this league that are playing basketball. He’s competing to win. That’s a totally different thing and he does that as well as anybody in this league.”
Tyler Herro scored 18 and Gabe Vincent added 17 for the
Heat, who outscored Boston 3914 in the third quarter. Butler had 17 alone in the third, outscoring the Celtics by himself over those 12 minutes.
Boston shot 2 for 15 in that third quarter.
“We won three quarters other than that, but obviously that one is going to stand out,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “We semibounced back in the fourth and started to play well again and matched their physicality, but 3914 on 2-for-15 is tough to overcome.”
Along with the 41 points, the rest of Butler’s line: nine rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocked shots. Since the NBA started charting all those stat categories, only five other players — Anthony Davis, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Harden (who did it twice) — had all those numbers in a single game. None happened in a playoff game, until now.
“I continued to play basketball the right way: Shoot the ball when I’m open, attack, hit the open guy,” Butler said. “Honestly, it was a team effort.”
Max Strus scored 11 and Bam Adebayo added 10 for Miami.
Jayson Tatum scored 29 for the Celtics, who were without starters Marcus Smart (foot) and Al Horford (health and safety protocols). Jaylen Brown added 24 for Boston, which got 18 apiece from Robert Williams III and Payton Pritchard.
Boston led by 13 in the first half and took a 62-54 lead into halftime. A 22-2 run was how Miami started the second half, the run punctuated by steals that led to baskets on three consecutive possessions. Strus had one, the next two by Butler pushed the lead out to 76-64, and the Heat were off and running.
Lottery results
Orlando won the NBA Draft lottery and landed the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since they got Dwight Howard in 2004.
Orlando finished with the worst record in the Eastern Conference at 22-60 and missed the playoffs for the eighth time in 10 years.
But they got a huge win in the lottery with the top pick. Duke’s Paolo Banchero, Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, Purdue’s Jaden Ivey and Auburn’s Jabari Smith are widely considered the most likely candidates to be taken first.
The draft is June 23 in New York. Oklahoma City got the second pick, followed by Houston and Sacramento. The Kings moved up from the No. 7 spot entering the lottery.