The Miami Heat have completed the unthinkable.
Braving through adversity and opposing odds, the Heat continues to author their historic run as early as first-round in the 2023 Playoffs, dismantling the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in overtime of Game 5, 128-126, to post one of the greatest upsets in NBA history.
The Heat overcame the 16-point lead planted by the Bucks in the fourth period, repeating their marvelous feat last Game 4 win on Monday behind the legendary leadership of Jimmy Butler.
Butler, the driving force of Miami’s ongoing Cinderella run this playoffs, powered his club with another incredible showing via 42-point outing. He forced the match to have a five-minute extension after hitting an unbelievable shot with 0.5 seconds left in the final frame.
Bam Adebayo took the top support role for Butler with a 20-10-10 triple-double, while Gabe Vincent provided 22 points including key productions in crunch time that helped the Heat on its 16-point comeback.
The Heat were swarmed by foul troubles in the endgame, having no Adebayo, Kevin Love and Kyle Lowry while giving up 45 free-throws, but the club managed to pull off an unforgettable achievement by crushing the Bucks team that set the best regular season record of the 2022-23 campaign.
Back injury-stricken Giannis Antetokounmpo fought hard with 38 points and 20 boards, while Khris Middleton had 33 markers. Amid their major contributions, the Bucks have faced issues mainly from themselves, which includes the questionable no timeout call by coach Mike Budenholzer following Butler’s clutch shot.
The Heat now becomes the first Play-in team in history that managed to advance towards the second-round stage of the playoffs.
With the loss, the Bucks now becomes the sixth No. 1 seeded team to fall in the first-round of the league’s playoff record books, joining the 1993-94 Seattle Supersonics, 1998-99 Heat, 2006-07 Dallas Mavericks, 2010-11 San Antonio Spurs and the 2011-12 Chicago Bulls.
After coming out of the postseason arena in a shocking and a disappointing ending this year, Milwaukee is facing a much anticipated offseason that may see urgent roster reconstruction and potential coaching changes.
As such, Butler and his mighty Heat squad will continue their season marching towards the Conference Semis, setting up a best-of-seven showdown with old rivals and East’ fifth-seeded team in New York Knicks. Game 1 is on Sunday in Madison Square Garden.
