Miami Heat uses dominant fourth quarter to take 3-0 series lead over Milwaukee Bucks
The Miami Heat is still undefeated in the 2020 playoffs.
The fifth-seeded Heat rallied from a 14-point deficit late in the third quarter for an impressive 115-100 victory over the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks on Friday in Game 3 of their second-round playoff series at Disney in Lake Buena Vista. Miami is a perfect 7-0 this postseason.
The victory gives the Heat a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Bucks, with just one win separating Miami from its first appearance in the conference finals since 2014. No NBA team has ever overcome a 3-0 series deficit to advance in the playoffs, with Game 4 set for Sunday at 3:30 p.m. (ABC).
“I’m not surprised,” All-Star Jimmy Butler said of the Heat’s success. “I think everybody else in the world might be. But not us here. Not if you wear a Heat jersey, if you’re one of these coaches, if you’re part of this organization — you’ve been seeing what we’ve been doing all year long. That doesn’t surprise us. We’ve got so much fight. We never give up. And I feel like, with those two things, we always give ourselves a chance to win.”
It looked like the Bucks were on their way to a much-needed win, ahead by 11 points with 9:40 to play. But the Heat used an 18-4 run to take a three-point lead with 5:24 remaining, as Butler led the comeback with 11 of Miami’s points during that important stretch.
From there, Butler simply did not let Miami lose with 17 points in the fourth quarter. The Heat’s max-contract star finished Game 3 with 30 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and 14-of-19 shooting from the foul line, seven rebounds and six assists.
“I just think it shows how good of a basketball player Jimmy is,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s not about his scoring. I’m sure everybody will look at the 30 points. But he only had three attempts in the first half. He does whatever is necessary to help your team have a chance to win. That’s on both ends of the court.”
Facing an 11-point hole, the Heat outscored the Bucks 35-9 over the final 9:40 of the game to turn a double-digit deficit into a double-digit win. Miami outscored Milwaukee 40-13 in the fourth quarter.
It took a pile of Heat threes to set up Butler’s late-game heroics. With Milwaukee limiting Miami to 28 paint points, the Heat tied a franchise playoff record with 18 made threes on 47 attempts on Friday.
Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo nearly finished with a triple-double, but he was inefficient with 21 points on 7-of-21 shooting, 16 rebounds and nine assists. He turned his ankle in the first half, but he played through the pain Friday.
It wasn’t just Butler, though.
Five Heat players finished with double-digit points, as All-Star center Bam Adebayo ended the night with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Jae Crowder also turned in a quality performance with 17 points on five made threes, four rebounds and five assists.
The Bucks controlled the first half, entering the break with a 57-50 lead despite an 11-of-25 three-point shooting display from the Heat during the first two quarters.
The Heat played Friday without reserve Kelly Olynyk because of a bruised right knee. But veteran forward Andre Iguodala was able to play in Game 3 after spraining his ankle in Game 2, with Miami using a 10-man rotation Friday that also included center Meyers Leonard in place of Olynyk and Derrick Jones Jr. because of foul trouble.
“We’ve used this term quite a bit, you have to be competitively humble,” Spoelstra said of holding a 3-0 series lead. “We have a day, so I don’t want everybody getting all charged up tonight. You do have to disengage for an evening and then we’ll get back to work tomorrow and get ready for a battle on Sunday.”
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 9:08 PM.
