Heat rally again to win in overtime, eliminate top-seeded Bucks

MILWAUKEE(AP) — Jimmy Butler scored 42 points and the Miami Heat staged asecond straight stunning fourth-quarter rally before winning128-126 in overtime on Wednesday night in Game 5 to complete anupset of the top-seeded Bucks in their Eastern Conferencefirst-round playoff series.

Two nightsafter outscoring the Bucks 30-13 in the final six minutes of a119-115 victory in Miami, the Heat produced another huge comebackand tied the game onButler’s layup with half asecond left in regulation.

Miami went onto become the sixth No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed. The last timeit happened was in 2012, when a Philadelphia 76ers team featuringcurrent Bucks guard Jrue Holiday capitalized on Derrick Rose’s kneeinjury to beat the top-seeded Chicago Bulls.

The Heatadvanced to a second-round series with the fifth-seeded New YorkKnicks, who completed their 4-1 series win over the ClevelandCavaliers earlier Wednesday. Game 1 is Sunday in New York.

“Becausewe’ve been in so many of these close games in the fourth quarter,our guys take pride — a lot of pride — in our mental toughness andphysical toughness going down the stretch, particularly in closegames,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We had to show that. Wehad to show that in all four of the wins.”

Bam Adebayoput the Heat ahead for good by dunking in a putback of Butler’smissed driving layup attempt with 4:44 left in overtime. The Buckstrailed 128-126 and had the ball in the closing seconds, but theclock ran out before Grayson Allen could take a shot as he drove tothe basket.

Adebayo had20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Gabe Vincent added 22points.

GiannisAntetokounmpo had 38 points and 20 rebounds for the Bucks, thoughhe shot just 10 of 23 on free-throw attempts. Khris Middleton added33 points.

Milwaukee led102-86 after three quarters but shot just 5 of 25 from the floor inthe fourth quarter and overtime.

The Heat tiedthe game on two occasions late in the fourth quarter beforeMiddleton made two free throws to put Milwaukee back ahead with27.8 seconds left.

Then thingsreally got interesting.

After callinga timeout, the Heat got the ball to Butler, whose 3-point attemptmissed with 18 seconds left. Holiday made two free throws with 14seconds remaining to make it a four-point game, but Vincent’s3-pointer cut the lead to one with 8.4 seconds left.

The Bucks hadthe ball in the backcourt when Holiday threw an errant pass thateluded Middleton. Miami’s Kyle Lowry initially was called for afoul as he chased the loose ball, but the Heat successfullychallenged the call and it was ruled a jump ball.

Brook Lopeztipped the ball to Antetokounmpo, whose pass nearly went out ofbounds before Middleton saved it to Holiday. After getting fouledwith 2.1 seconds left, Holiday missed his first free throw beforesinking the second to make it 118-116.

After theHeat called timeout, Vincent stood in front of the Bucks bench andthrew an inbounds pass to Butler, who was waiting under the basketto make the tying score.

“Just get theball to Jimmy,” Vincent said. “The game plan was simple: Get theball to Buckets and let him do what he do,” Vincent said. “Max seta great screen, Jimmy created some space and went up and gotit.”

TIP-INS

Heat: UdonisHaslem picked up a technical foul from the Heat bench afterexchanging words with Milwaukee’s Bobby Portis during asecond-quarter timeout. … Erik Spoelstra earned his 100th careerplayoff coaching victory. The 100th win enabled him to tie LarryBrown for fifth place on the all-time list Spoelstra’s 99 wins puthim in a tie for sixth with Red Auerbach. … The Heat improved to3-1 in postseason series against the Bucks. The Heat wonfirst-round series in 2013 and 2020 and lost a first-round seriesin 2021.

Bucks: WesleyMatthews returned to action for the first time since straining hisright calf in Game 1. “Tough is probably a gross understatement,”Matthews said after a Wednesday morning shootaround as he discussedthe pain of missing three playoff games. … The Bucks went out inthe first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2018, whenthey lost in seven games to Boston as a No. 7 seed.