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Miami Heat’s Jae Crowder (99), Jimmy Butler (22) and Bam Adebayo (13) celebrate as they run down the court against Milwaukee Bucks’ Brook Lopez (11) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) after a basket in the second half . from an NBA conference semifinal basketball game on Friday, Sept. 4, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo / Mark J. Terrill)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat are one game away from the Eastern Conference finals.
And the best team of the NBA regular season is about to be swept.
Miami’s impressive run in the NBA playoffs continued Friday night, with Butler scoring 30 points and the Heat pulling off a dominant fourth-quarter rally to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 115-100 on Friday night.
The Heat outscored Milwaukee 40-13 in the fourth quarter, the largest margin of its kind in the fourth quarter in NBA playoff history, to take a 3-0 series lead. No team in NBA history has successfully recovered from a 3-0 deficit.
“We have been proving people wrong all year,” said Bam Adebayo.
Adebayo had 20 points and 16 rebounds, and Jae Crowder had 17 points to help the Heat improve to 7-0 this postseason. Brook Lopez scored 22 points for Milwaukee, which had 21 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists from Giannis Antetokounmpo, who sprained an ankle in the first quarter and seemed to struggle at times.
Butler scored 17 of his points in the fourth and the Heat had their best playoff comeback in the fourth quarter. They were 10 down in the fourth quarter of Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals against San Antonio, the game Ray Allen sent him into extra time with a 5.2-second 3-pointer en route to Miami’s most recent title. .
Milwaukee led 87-75 in the fourth quarter, 12 up with 12 minutes to go in a game the Bucks knew they almost certainly had to win to keep alive any realistic hope of winning a championship.
Miami had other ideas.
Tyler Herro opened the fourth with a triple, Goran Dragic made another three about three minutes later to cut the deficit to four, and the Heat got on the move. Butler had Miami’s next nine points as the Heat returned to the top, setting Adebayo for a short basket with 4:20 remaining to restore a 100-99 lead.
And Butler could have given the dagger with a pass; he found Jae Crowder for a left triple with 2:15 left to put Miami up 107-100.
Butler knew it was good: he was running the other way, arm in the air, before Crowder’s shot even reached inside the net. It was part of a 15-1 streak that sealed the deal.
Milwaukee needed less than five minutes to complete a 21-6 run that put the Bucks up 87-73 at the end of the third. Lopez and George Hill combined for the first 11 points of that race.
But the fourth, all of Miami.
TIP-INS
Bucks: Milwaukee fell to 0-7 against Miami in postseason games. … Antetokounmpo’s struggles from the line continued, going 3-for-8 in the first half, leaving him at 19 in his last 42 in the playoffs.
Heat: With Kelly Olynyk (bruised knee) out, Meyers Leonard got his first few minutes of the playoffs. Leonard started much of the season before spraining his ankle in early February; Friday marked his third appearance in the past seven months. …
GIANNIS 1K
A dunk in the fourth quarter gave Antetokounmpo 19 points on the night and 1,000 in his 42-game playoff career.
He is the 32nd player to score at least 1,000 points in his first 42 NBA playoff games; Michael Jordan has the most in that span, 1,495.
HEAT DENIED
Miami’s plan to turn its local stadium into an early voting location starting next month was rejected Friday by elections officials in Miami-Dade County.
“(If) the forces involved in making this decision think that this will silence our voice on the critical importance of voting, they must know that we will not be discouraged,” the team said. Many NBA teams are trying to host polling stations this fall, in part due to the agreement reached last week when players chose to continue the season.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
The fourth game is Sunday.
gsg
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