LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Jimmy Butler kept hearing the same message from teammates in every conversation Monday night.
“Win the game.”
He listened to them, and delivered.
Butler scored 14 of his playoff career-high 40 points in the fourth quarter, Goran Dragic added 27 and the Heat clamped down defensively in the final three quarters to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 115-104 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Monday night.
“I felt like I took it up a level in the fourth quarter,” Butler said. “If that needs to happen every game, I’ve got to be able to do it. But we’ve got so many guys capable of doing it for us.”
Bam Adebayo had 12 points, 17 rebounds and six assists for the fifth-seeded Heat, who are 3-1 overall against the top-seeded Bucks this season. Tyler Herro added 11 points for Miami, which improved to 5-0 in the postseason.
Butler joined only LeBron James and Dwyane Wade — the first person who texted Butler postgame Monday night — as players with a 40-point playoff effort for Miami. He was 13 for 20 from the field, 12 for 13 from the line and 2 for 2 from 3-point land.
“He wants these kind of moments,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Khris Middleton scored 28 points for Milwaukee, which also dropped Game 1 of its first-round series against Orlando. Brook Lopez had 24 points on 8 for 10 shooting, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 18 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Bucks.
“He just has to stick with his routine, stick with what he’s been doing, continue to have a lot of confidence, continue to attack, continue to get to the free throw line,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “He’s going to make them. We have total faith in him.”
Kyle Korver added 11 for the Bucks, who scored 40 points on the way to an 11-point lead after the first quarter — then managed 64 the rest of the way. The Bucks played without point guard Eric Bledsoe, out with a strained right hamstring.
“We’ve been here before,” Antetokounmpo said. “Going down 0-1 against Orlando, we did the same thing last year against Boston … We’ve got to come out and play Game 2, man. It’s a big game. Our season is on the line. We’ve got to come out, play hard, watch the tape, make the adjustment, be aggressive, make the right play and hopefully we can win the game.”
Miami led 92-86 after three quarters, after trailing for most of the game to that point — then managed only three points in the first 6:09 of the fourth quarter.
The Bucks didn’t exactly exploit that slump.
Marvin Williams’ three-point play with 7:40 left got Milwaukee within 95-93, and it stayed a one-possession game for nearly five minutes. Antetokounmpo scored for a 96-95 lead midway through the fourth, before Butler drove and got a baseline floater to fall on the next Miami possession to put Miami back on top for good.
Butler’s 3-pointer with 3:03 left pushed the lead to 102-96, and Herro — after Adebayo extended a possession with an offensive rebound — connected on a 3 with 1:34 left to make it 109-101.
Game 2 is Wednesday.
“Just like they’ll be studying their film to get better, we’ll be doing the same,” Butler said.
TIP-INS
Heat: Miami is now 24-20 in Game 1s. … Duncan Robinson, a big part of Miami’s success this season, had only one field goal — a banked-in 3-pointer. … Butler’s previous high in a Heat uniform was 38 points. His previous playoff career-best was 36, for Philadelphia last year.
Bucks: Milwaukee is now 20-32 in Game 1s. … Antetokounmpo’s son Liam was among the first fans in bubble history; Monday was the first day that some NBA players could have family members join them at the restart. … Lopez had two fouls at the half, then two more in the first 40 seconds of the third quarter. … Middleton and Lopez combined for 40 points in the first half, 12 in the second.
RILEY ARRIVES
Heat President Pat Riley was at the game, though he’s not allowed to be near the team or their hotel because of the health and safety rules of the restart. Spoelstra said he was glad Riley and general manager Andy Elisburg — who was at some first-round games as well — could see the “historic” bubble. “It’s still enough to be able to feel the emotions of the playoffs and where we are,” Spoelstra said.
VOTING SITE
Fans will be able to go to Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum this fall, to vote. The city of Milwaukee announced Monday that the Bucks’ home arena will be an early voting site for the 2020 general election, open from Oct. 20 through Nov. 1. Election Day is Nov. 3. Miami is also seeking to turn its home arena into an early voting site this year.
UP NEXT
Game 2 is Wednesday.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER 104, HOUSTON ROCKETS 100 (SERIES TIED 3-3)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Chris Paul and the Thunder had their backs to the bubble wall, a tougher spot than usual when facing elimination.
This time meant lots of packing, getting ready for a potential return home after a long time away. They weren’t interested in their trip — or their season — ending.
“We’re not ready to go yet,” Paul said.
He made sure they wouldn’t.
Paul gave the Thunder at least one more game at Disney, scoring 15 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter for a 104-100 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday night in Game 6 of a Western Conference first-round series.
Paul made two free throws with 13.1 seconds left and the game tied at 100, and Danilo Gallinari added two more after a turnover by Russell Westbrook to finish it off.
Game 7 will be Wednesday night, with the winner advancing to face the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers. James Harden said the Rockets’ mindset won’t change.
“To go win,” he said. “It’s simple.”
It gives the West two Game 7s, with Denver and Utah set to play theirs on Tuesday.
“We expect him to make those shots, especially at the end of the game,” Gallinari said.
Gallinari added 25 points.
Harden had 32 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Rockets, while Robert Covington had 18 and Westbrook 17 in his second game back from a right quadriceps strain.
But they combined for 12 of the Rockets’ 22 turnovers, saying Houston has lost the close games more than Oklahoma City won them.
“It’s kind of been on us, to be completely honest,” Westbrook said.
Houston got its most dominant playoff victory in Game 5, winning 114-80 after holding Oklahoma City to 31.5% shooting. But the Thunder shook that off, just as they did a 2-0 deficit in the series.
Westbrook scored five straight points to open the third and the Rockets would get the lead as high as nine in the period. But Gallinari kept it from getting any worse and then Lu Dort, a dreadful 3 for 16 overall and 0 for 9 from 3-point range in Game 5, had a layup and two 3s for an 8-0 run that ended the quarter and sent Oklahoma City to the fourth with a 77-75 lead.
Oklahoma City extended it to eight, but Houston wiped that out with an 18-4 run that provided a 98-92 lead. Paul answered with consecutive 3-pointers to knot it again, and he later unknotted it for good.
Most of the first half was played within a margin of just a few points either way. The Thunder continued to misfire, hitting just 41.7% overall and going only 3 for 15 on 3-pointers.
But they defended well and the Rockets didn’t crack 30 points until more than 4 1/2 minutes into the second quarter. Harden scored six straight points late in the half and Eric Gordon hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 51-48 lead.
TIP-INS
Rockets: Covington is averaging 18 in the last three games after totaling 18 in the first three. … Gordon had just nine points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished sixth in the voting for the Most Improved Player award, won Monday by Brandon Ingram of New Orleans.
REMEMBERING A RIVAL
There was a moment of silence before the game for John Thompson, the Hall of Fame Georgetown coach who died at 78. Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan played against Thompson’s teams when he was at Providence in the 1980s, and lost an NIT game to his last postseason team in 1998 after he began coaching at Florida.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT?
The Rockets and Thunder are the only teams remaining at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, one of three hotels that housed NBA teams for the restart. Houston coach Mike D’Antoni joked he never had to worry about bumping into any Thunder personnel in the elevator because he takes the stairs, but Donovan said the accommodations weren’t an issue.
“People got their own schedules, their own routines, the things that they’ve got to do,” Donovan said, “so you cross paths but it’s always been pleasant.”
Photo credit – Mark J. Terrill / Pool via AP / Lake Buena Vista, FL