MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler scored a playoff career-high 45 factors, together with a private 7-0 run within the ultimate moments, and the Miami Heat held off the Atlanta Hawks 115-105 in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round sequence Tuesday evening.
Tyler Herro scored 15 for Miami, whereas Max Strus scored 14 and Gabe Vincent added 11 for top-seeded Miami, which took a 2-0 lead over the eighth-seeded Hawks.
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Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 19 of his 29 factors within the fourth quarter for Atlanta. Trae Young scored 25 for the Hawks, whereas De’Andre Hunter had 16 and John Collins completed with 13 factors and 10 rebounds for the Hawks.
Butler’s earlier playoff finest was 40, executed twice, each within the bubble when the Heat made the 2020 NBA Finals. The Heat wanted all of his heroics then, they usually wanted all of them on Tuesday as effectively.
Bogdanovic’s 3-pointer with 3:15 left bought Atlanta inside 104-101.
From there, it was all Butler.
He had a dunk, a 3-pointer and one other dunk — all within the span of 56 seconds — to show issues from unsure to locked down, placing Miami up 10 with 1:20 remaining and guaranteeing the Heat would end off the win.
“Just staying aggressive,” Butler mentioned. “Taking what the defense gives me.”
As could be anticipated in a playoff sequence, pleasantries started being exchanged with extra regularity. The first half featured 16 fouls by Atlanta and 14 by Miami — a season-high for the Hawks, one off the season-high for the Heat, and people 30 personals didn’t even embrace a double technical that Lowry and Hunter bought for getting face-to-face.
Young picked up a technical for arguing a foul towards him late within the third as effectively, the capper to a interval the place the Heat went from barely forward to holders of a double-digit lead going into the ultimate 12 minutes. He performed all the third quarter, however managed solely two photographs in that span — making each — and didn’t get to the foul line, whereas committing 5 turnovers in that interval alone.
And in time, Miami hit its stride.
Kevin Huerter’s stepback 3-pointer with 8:59 left within the third pulled Atlanta inside 64-62. The Hawks went practically three minutes with out scoring once more, and the sport seemed very completely different after these three minutes.
The Heat went 4 for 4 in that stretch — 3-pointers by Butler, P.J. Tucker and Strus, with a layup by Butler in there as effectively — and it added as much as an 11-0 run that pushed the lead out to 75-62. The margin remained not less than eight factors for the following 11 minutes, earlier than Atlanta started clawing again.
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Young hit Collins with a strike for a layup, and Bogdanovic’s lengthy jumper bought Atlanta inside 94-90 halfway by means of the fourth.
But the Hawks by no means bought the lead. Butler noticed to that.
TIP-INS
Hawks: Atlanta had three gamers (Hunter, Huerter and Bogdanovic) with three fouls by halftime for less than the second time this season. The different was Jan. 14 — additionally at Miami. … Among the changes the Hawks tried: Collins began Game 2, and Huerter opened the sport guarding Lowry.
Heat: Duncan Robinson, who made eight 3’s and scored 27 factors in Game 1, went and not using a shot in seven minutes. … Soccer legend David Beckham was in attendance. … Going again to the tip of the common season, Miami is 8-1 in its final 9 video games. … Miami is now 5-1 towards Atlanta this season.
2-0 LEADS
Teams that take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven matchup have ultimately received the sequence 92.4% of the time. The Hawks have by no means rallied from 0-2 down in a sequence (0-25) and the Heat have by no means wasted a 2-0 lead (17-0) — however there have been 4 such rallies in final season’s playoffs, two by the Los Angeles Clippers and two others by Milwaukee.
GOING HOME
Atlanta now performs host to video games 3 and 4. Since Jan. 17, the Hawks are an NBA-best 20-3 at residence.
UP NEXT
Game 3 is Friday in Atlanta.
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