Butler forces OT with vicious dunk before Heat beat Mavericks
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MIAMI: Jimmy Butler scored 33 points as he led the Miami Heat to there seventh win of the season in an overtime thriller against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Butler shot 64.7 per cent from the field, hitting 11 of his 17 shots. The Heat’s star-player forced himself into the lane through contact time and time again, earning 16 free throws, 11 of which he made. He ended the game with 33 points, his season-high.
After Dallas held on to a lead for the majority of the first quarter, a top of the key three pointer from Kevin Love would put them within one. Bam Adebayo would then snatch the lead from Miami after driving into the lane and sinking a turnaround fade-away.
Miami would extend their lead to ten points early in the second quarter, but Dallas would claw their way back to a tie game. Butler would help Miami to pull ahead, beginning with rejecting Quentin Grimes attempt at a layup, before he successfully made his own layup through a sea of defenders. He hit a jump shot through contact not long after, but ended up missing the free throw.
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The Heat would keep their lead for most of the third, ending the quarter five points above the Mavericks. However, the fourth quarter would be closely fought, with the last five minutes featuring three lead changes.
With nine seconds left of play, Dallas would inbound the ball to Kyrie Irving, who was intentionally fouled immediately by Butler, as Miami hoped to keep the game within one basket. Irving, a career 88.6 per cent shooter from the free throw line, would end up missing the first shot. He would sink the second, leaving Miami down by two with just a few seconds LEFT.
That’s when the play of the game came. In the last few seconds of regulation, Duncan Robinson would inbound the ball to Butler, who broke free of his defender as he cut into the lane to viciously dunk the ball, equalising the game with 4.3 seconds left on the clock. Butler fought through a fair bit of contact from Dereck Lively, but wasn’t awarded a free throw from the referees.
Spencer Dinwiddie would try his hand at a quick three to win the game, but it would ricochet off the rim, sending the game into overtime.
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Butler would score a driving layup with a little over a minute and 30 seconds left in overtime, and Alec Burks would score one of his two free throws a little later, to put the Heat up by five. Dallas would fail to return fire, losing their eighth game of the season.
The Miami Heat have won half of the 14 games they have played so far this season, putting them at fifth in the Eastern Conference. The Dallas Mavericks have won nine of their 17 games they have played so far, placing them at ninth in the Western Conference.
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