Heat’s Jimmy Butler and Erik Spoelstra face off in All-Star Game. Who won?
The Miami Heat was guaranteed to come out of the 2022 NBA All-Star Game as winners.
Not just because it’s an exhibition meant to celebrate the league’s best, but also because the Heat was represented on both teams. Heat wing Jimmy Butler played as a member of Team LeBron, and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and his staff coached Team Durant.
In the end, it was Butler’s team who came away with the victory. Team LeBron earned a 163-160 win over Team Durant on Sunday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland to cap off All-Star Weekend.
Butler finished with two points on 1-of-2 shooting, one assist and two steals in nine minutes off Team LeBron’s bench.
It marked the second All-Star Game that Spoelstra has served as a head coach in, as he also earned the honor in 2013. Butler has been named an All-Star six times during his NBA career, with his first appearance in the showcase game coming in 2015.
But Sunday was only the fourth All-Star game that Butler has played in, as he missed the 2016 game with an injury and was held out in 2018 because of rest purposes. Sunday also marked the first time Butler, 32, has been a member of the winning team among the four All-Star games he has appeared in.
Butler played the final 3:49 of the first quarter for his first stint of the night. He missed his only shot attempt, a corner three, during this stretch.
The second quarter was a bit more eventful for Butler, who recorded two points, one assist and two steals while playing the opening 5:31 of the period. His only basket came on a 15-foot one-legged fadeaway jumper off an assist from Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic.
Butler did not play in the second half.
As part of the relatively new All-Star Game format, Team Durant and Team LeBron played for their own respective beneficiaries and the teams competed to win each of the first three quarters. Team Durant played for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and Team LeBron played for the Kent State I Promise Scholars Program.
Each of the first three quarters started with the score 0-0 and were 12 minutes long, and the winner of each quarter received $100,000 for its organization.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the game clock was turned off and a Final Target Score was set. The Final Target Score was determined by taking the leading team’s total score through three quarters and adding 24 points, and it ended when a team makes a basket or free throw to reach or surpass that number.
The winning team (the team that reached the Final Target Score first) earned $150,000 for its organization. Each organization began the All-Star Game with a $150,000 contribution.
On Sunday, the Final Target Score was 163 with Team Durant entering the fourth quarter with a 139-138 lead. But Team Durant was outscored 25-21 in the final period, as Golden State’s Stephen Curry led the way for Team LeBron with 50 points on an All-Star record 16 made threes.
Halftime on Sunday included a 35-minute ceremony to honor the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. Former Heat players Ray Allen, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton and Dwyane Wade all made the list of the greatest 75 players in NBA history, and Heat scout Bob McAdoo also made the cut.
With All-Star Weekend coming to an end on Sunday, Butler and Spoelstra will now have a few days off before returning to practice on Thursday. The Heat resumes its schedule on Friday against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 10:55 PM.
