It took everything Jimmy Butler and the Heat had, but suddenly, the top-seeded Bucks are on the brink of being eliminated from the playoffs — in the first round, no less.
Butler scorched the nets to the tune of 56 points, lifting the Heat to an unlikely 119-114 victory on Monday and a 3-1 series lead. Game 5 is Wednesday at Milwaukee.
Amazingly, Butler forced nothing and finished 19-of-28 from the floor, making just three 3-pointers along the way.
Interestingly, both of the higher seeds on this side of the Eastern Conference bracket are one loss away from going home for the summer, as the fourth-seeded Cavaliers also trail their series vs. the Knicks by a 3-1 count. Those two teams also play Wednesday, in Cleveland.
As relayed by Marc Stein of The Stein Line, teams that lead 3-1 in a playoff series are 258-13 all-time. That’s a winning percentage of .952.
Jimmy Butler:
? 56 points, 29th player in NBA history to score 50 or more in playoff game
? Highest scoring postseason game since Giannis Antetokounmpo in July 2021
? 8 seed Heat up 3-1 on 1 seed Bucks
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 25, 2023
For the Bucks, the loss spoiled the return of star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who missed the last game and most of the one before that with a lower back contusion. Antetokounmpo finished with 26 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds in Game 4.
Despite all the hoopla and the otherworldly showing by Butler, here’s a prediction: Bucks in seven.
They have two of the next three at home, should it indeed go that far. They seem more than capable of winning ONE game at Miami. But in order for that to happen, of course, they will have to figure out a way to slow Butler. On Monday night, that proved much too difficult.
Most points in a playoff game, NBA history
1. Michael Jordan: 63
2. Elgin Baylor: 61
3. Donovan Mitchell: 57
t-4. Wilt Chamberlain: 56
t-4. Michael Jordan: 56
t-4. Charles Barkley: 56
t-4. Jimmy Butler: 56— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 25, 2023
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