Jimmy Butler has always elevated his play at playoff time. Not unlike this season, the eighth-seeded Heat-up went 3-1 against the Milwaukee Bucks, who had the best record in the regular season. In game three, Butler made playoff history with his impressive 56-point performance. Miami found themselves down numerous times during this game, however, and their star turned out to be a Michael Jordan-like performance during clutch time. Although the series isn’t over yet, this game has certainly sucked some of the life out of the rival Bucks.
Jimmy Butler makes history with his 56-point performance
Miami takes a 3-1 lead over Milwaukee
Giannis has been dealing with poor comebacks throughout the long series. He was knocked out early in the first game and actually missed the second and third games. In the fourth game, the former MVP gave it to him, but he was still in pain at times. The Greek Freak finished the night with 26 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds, giving him a triple-double. Giannis even had a clutch layup with one end down the stretch that put Milwaukee back in the lead. Then, Butler went nuclear. Momentum plays a huge role in qualifying and does not discriminate based on a team’s rank. After the Heat’s impressive 119-114 win over the Bucks, Milwaukee is in grave danger of losing to this scattershot eight seed.
Historic Jimmy Butler performance
With 56 points, Jimmy Butler scored the fourth-highest points scored during a playoff game in NBA history. The other three performances include Jordan’s 63 points, Elgin Baylor’s 61 points and Donovan Mitchell’s 57 most recently during the 2020 NBA Bubble. Butler couldn’t miss the closing moments of the fourth quarter as he single-handedly captured the momentum. It didn’t matter where he was on the ground either considering he hit a few three-point clutch shots along with a mid-range jump shot. At one point, the former Chicago Bull led the lane and got one shot. To go along with Butler’s 56 points, he also grabbed nine complete rebounds and shot 67.9 percent from the field.
What makes this even more impressive is that Miami hasn’t had a single player come close to breaking out 20 points of their own. However, despite being short-lived, the team still got key contributions in other areas. Kevin Love came along and showed why he’s a veteran and a hero because he had some key defensive stops in the first half. Not to mention that Duncan Robinson found his stroke from behind the arc. However, it was evident that the man of the night was Jimmy Butler who showed that no team could overlook him, no matter what seed his team was seeded.