Takeaways from the night Jimmy Butler kept the Heat alive: ‘His will to win is remarkable’
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 111-108 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. Los Angeles still holds a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series:
Game 5 turned into Jimmy Butler vs. LeBron James, and Butler won.
Butler continued his magnificent championship series with 35 points on 11-of-19 shooting, 1-of-3 shooting on threes and 12-of-12 shooting from the foul line, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and five steals on Friday. It marked his second triple-double of the Finals, as he also finished the Heat’s Game 3 win with 40 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists to become the third player in NBA history to record a 40-point triple-double in the Finals.
Friday’s performance didn’t include much rest for Butler, who played 47:12 of the 48 minutes.
“Jimmy, again, his will to win is remarkable,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “To do that in 47-plus minutes and take the challenge on the other end, this is — every young player coming into this league should study footage on Jimmy Butler, the definition of a two-way player competing on both ends, five steals, and then making those big plays down the stretch for us offensively.”
Butler is the sixth different player in NBA history to generate multiple triple-double in a single Finals series. Also on that list is: Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain, Draymond Green, James and Magic Johnson.
Butler is also only the second player in NBA history to record multiple 30-point triple-doubles in a single Finals series. A short list that only includes James, who did it in 2015.
But James was magnificent Friday, too. The four-time MVP finished Game 5 with 40 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and three steals in 42 minutes.
“He was able to make one more play than I was able to make tonight and come away with a victory,” James said of Butler.
The Lakers’ second star Anthony Davis was also effective with 28 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and three blocks in 42 minutes. Davis was limping toward the end of the game after re-aggravating his right heel contusion, but he said “I’ll be fine” for Game 6.
Los Angeles usually wins when it gets that type of production from its All-Star duo.
It marked the Lakers’ first loss this season when James finishes with 35 or more points. Los Angeles is now 9-1 when James hits that mark.
And the Lakers are now 12-4 this season when Davis finishes with at least 25 points and 12 rebounds.
The Heat survived both of those things because of another extraordinary performance from Butler.
“That’s what really, really, really great players do,” Butler said of James’ Game 5 stat line. “But we ain’t backing down. We ain’t shying away. We can go on the other end and do what we do. I think he had a hell of a performance tonight, along with AD, the whole team. But we’re still fighting. We’re in it to win it, we’re not backing down, we’re not scared of nobody.”
In the fourth quarter with the game tied at 101 with 2:52 to play, Butler scored eight of the Heat’s final 10 points in the three-point win. Four of those points came on free throws, as he drew 12 fouls to shoot 12 free throws in the game.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel called those two late foul calls that sent Butler to the free-throw line “bad calls” and “they were given four free throws and it made it an uphill battle for us.”
James scored 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting in the final period. But in the final seconds with the Lakers trailing by one, James drove into the paint found Danny Green for a wide open three at the top of the three-point line.
Green missed with 7.1 seconds, and the Lakers’ fate was sealed.
Butler has averaged 29 points on 55.8 percent shooting, 8.6 rebounds, 10.2 assists and 2.6 steals in the Finals.
The Heat looked like the elite three-point shooting team it is in Game 5.
Outside shooting has been a big part of Miami’s success this season, and it was big part of its success Friday. The Heat shot 14 of 33 (42.4 percent) from three-point range on Friday, which is its best three-point shooting display of the championship series.
Miami is 28-7 this season when it makes 40 percent or more of its threes.
Duncan Robinson led the charge with 26 points on 7-of-13 shooting from deep. He’s just the 10th player in NBA history to make seven or more threes in a Finals game.
“I thought I was a little more persistent tonight getting to the ball and getting to my spots. That helped,” Robinson said. “And it helps to see some fall in. That helped build confidence more.”
The Heat needed this performance from its shooters after a slow start to the series. Los Angeles was surprisingly the slightly better outside shooting team through the first four games of the Finals with a team three-point percentage of 35.5 percent compared to 35.2 percent for Miami.
The Heat entered the Finals as the better outside shooting team, though, finishing the regular season with the NBA’s second-best team three-point percentage (37.9). Miami also made 14.1 threes per game and shot 38 percent from deep in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Lakers entered the Finals shooting 35.5 percent on threes this postseason. Los Angeles finished the regular season with the league’s 21st-best team three-point percentage (34.9).
The Lakers didn’t shoot poorly from deep in Game 5, finishing 14 of 38 (36.8 percent) from three-point range. But the Heat was just more efficient from behind the arc, as it has been for most of the season.
The Heat is still playing without starting guard Goran Dragic (foot), and All-Star center Bam Adebayo (neck) is clearly not 100 percent yet.
After tearing the plantar fascia in his left foot in Game 1 of the Finals, Dragic missed his fourth consecutive game Friday. There is still no timetable for his return, but he has not been ruled out for the series yet.
“I’m dealing with a lot of pain, so that’s the main concern,” Dragic said Monday. “I don’t want to be a liability there on the floor for my team. I want to be the best that I can be. It’s just, it is what it is.
“They told me that it can change day-to-day. It’s just a matter of comfort, and if I can push off my leg. I do have to admit, it’s better than it was. The injury happened four days ago. We’ll just see how it’s going to react in the near future, and hopefully I will be back.”
Dragic, who will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, has been one of the Heat’s most reliable and efficient offensive options this postseason. He entered the Finals averaging a team-high 20.9 points on 45.2 percent shooting, to go with 4.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists during the playoff run.
Dragic owns the second-best plus/minus on the Heat’s roster this postseason at plus-77.
As for Adebayo, he admitted he wasn’t 100 percent when he returned for Miami’s Game 4 loss. It was pretty evident that Adebayo wasn’t 100 percent in Game 5 either, as he finished Friday’s win with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting, four rebounds and four assists in 38 minutes.
Adebayo, who missed Games 2 and 3 of the series after straining his neck in Game 1, shot just 5 of 11 from inside the restricted area in Game 5.
“Just trying to forget about it,” Adebayo said of his injury after Friday’s win. “When you get in the Finals, I don’t think anybody’s completely healthy, 100 percent, so I can’t dictate how I play because I’m injured. I got to go out there and still play like I am.”
In the Heat’s first elimination game of the postseason, Spoelstra used a short seven-man rotation Friday.
The starting five of Tyler Herro, Robinson, Butler, Jae Crowder and Adebayo, and a two-man bench rotation that included only Andre Iguodala and Kendrick Nunn.
Kelly Olynyk, who averaged 12.3 points while shooting 37.5 percent on threes, 5.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in the first four games of the championship series, did not play Friday.
“It was more just the read,” Spoelstra said of his decision to use a short rotation in Game 5. “I had every intention to go with a rotation that we have been and possibly could go with that in Game 6.”
The result was big minutes for the Heat’s top-end players. Butler played 47 minutes, Crowder played 40 minutes, Adebayo played 38 minutes and Robinson played 37 minutes.
Nunn turned in one of his best performances since the season resumed more than two months ago. The rookie guard finished Game 5 with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, four rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes.
It was an encouraging bounce-back performance for Nunn, who struggled in Tuesday’s Game 4 loss with six points on 2-of-11 shooting and zero assists in 26 minutes. He entered Friday averaging 5.4 points on 37 percent shooting from the field and 22.9 percent shooting on threes, 1.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in the playoffs.
The Heat overcame long odds throughout the playoffs on its way to the Finals. Why not become one of the few teams to rally from a 3-1 deficit?
How difficult will it be for the Heat to win three consecutive games to rally from a 3-1 series deficit against James, Davis and the Lakers?
NBA teams that take a 3-1 lead have won their series 95 percent (246-13) of the time in league history. Only one team has rallied from a 3-1 hole in the Finals, when James led the Cleveland Cavaliers’ comeback to win the 2016 championship over the Golden State Warriors.
But Miami already pulled off a rare feat Friday, beating James in a closeout game. James entered with wins in 16 of his previous 17 closeout opportunities, a streak that dated back to the 2015 playoffs.
The Lakers were 3-0 in closeout games this postseason before their Game 5 loss to the Heat.
Game 6 of the Finals is Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.
“Everybody counted us out since the beginning of the playoffs,” Herro said. “We don’t really care what people have to say. It still is 3-2 so I’m sure there’s still people counting us out and we’re not going anywhere anytime soon. We have two more games to win and we know that the job is not done.”
This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 1:51 AM.
