MIAMI – Jimmy Butler got into his bag Sunday night and did a number on the Dallas Mavericks.
The Miami Heat guard poured in a game-high 33 points, and more importantly scored the crucial basket that sent the game into overtime. And once the game reached overtime, the Heat were able to prevail, 123-118.
Coming out of a timeout, the Heat trailed, 114-112, and needed a basket to tie the score and send the game into overtime. And that’s what they got from Butler, who slipped past the Mavs’ defense and rolled inside the paint for a dunk with 4.3 seconds remaining that forced overtime.
It was the 83rd time Butler has scored at least 30 points in a game, and the 26th time he’s done so without converting a three-pointer. Butler was 11-of-17 from the field, 11-of-16 from the free throw line, and didn’t even attempt a three-pointer.
“We didn’t score enough,” Mavs guard Kyrie Irving said. “We stopped pushing the pace and they started locking us down in terms of one shot every possession, and those five minutes (in overtime) go by really quick.
“It’s either you’re the team that hits first or you’re the team that’s kind of playing on our heels. And I think tonight we were kind of playing on our heels, and in that overtime they executed a lot more and they hit some timely baskets.”
No basket was more timely than the one Butler hit to force overtime.
Here are the three takeaways from the Heat’s five-point win over the Mavs.
IRVING LED THE WAY: Kyrie Irving led the way for the Mavs with 27 points. Harassed all night by the Heat, Irving was 9-of-21 from the field and 3-of-12 on three-pointers. It was the sixth time in the past eight games that Irving has scored at least 20 points, and the 11th time he’s scored at least 20 points this season.
PARADE TO THE FREE THROW LINE: The first half of Sunday’s game was filled with a lot of whistles, and a lot of trips to the free-throw line. Especially for the Heat and Butler. Over the first two quarters, the Mavs were charged with 16 fouls and the Heat flipped those into 21 free throw attempts. Butler himself had 12 free throw attempts in the first half — he made eight of them –while the Mavs were 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the opening half.
TOO MANY MISSED THREE-POINTERS: The Mavs hoisted up a whopping 40 three-pointers against Miami. Unfortunately, they only converted 10 of them for a woeful 25 percent. That includes making just 3-of-17 shots from downtown in the fourth quarter and overtime session. Coach Jason Kidd said the difference in overtime was that the Mavs settled for the three instead of working harder to get shots closer to the basket.
X: @DwainPrice
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