7:51 PM ET
Tim BontempsESPN
BOSTON -- Jimmy Butler, backmost aft missing 7 games with a sore close knee, played his archetypal crippled astatine TD Garden since his masterpiece successful Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals backmost successful May.
And portion Butler mightiness not person been rather that awesome successful his instrumentality Friday night, helium inactive finished with 25 points, 15 rebounds and 3 assists successful 36 minutes for the Miami Heat, who survived a miraculous changeable successful the last seconds by Jaylen Brown to triumph a 120-116 thriller successful overtime implicit the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics.
'He's specified a winning player," Heat manager Erik Spoelstra said. "I consciousness similar done the archetypal 3 quarters I didn't tally a play for him. He conscionable finds a mode to vie and assistance your squad win."
It had looked similar Butler had closed the doorway connected the Celtics erstwhile helium made baskets connected back-to-back possessions wrong the last infinitesimal of regularisation -- the archetypal coming disconnected an assistance from Kyle Lowry, and the 2nd aft helium got Al Horford to power onto him and buried a beauteous fall-away jumper with 5.6 seconds to spell to enactment the Heat up by three.
But then, Brown came done for Boston. After taking the inbounds walk from Marcus Smart, Brown took a mates of dribbles and launched a 30-footer that careened into the handbasket disconnected the backboard with 1.7 seconds to go, tying the people to nonstop the crippled to overtime.
Spoelstra said helium was good with however Butler defended the play, saying helium was gladsome Butler didn't perpetrate a foul erstwhile Brown turned around.
"It felt bully coming disconnected my hands," said Brown, who finished with 37 points connected 12-for-23 shooting. "I cognize we wanted to get a changeable up connected the rim arsenic accelerated arsenic imaginable conscionable successful lawsuit we missed, we tin get the rebound oregon extremity out. So erstwhile I caught it successful my hand, it felt bully coming off, truthful I fto it fly."
Butler tipped his headdress to Brown.
"Jaylen did what Jaylen does, and he'd been making shots each crippled long," Butler said. "That's tough. You got to unrecorded with that. Probably should've contested it, possibly fouled him with his backmost to the basket, but I conscionable hatred fouling. But he's been playing incredible, truthful I'm gladsome helium made it, but I'm gladsome that we got the dub, truthful there's that."
The Heat didn't falter successful overtime. Instead, they pressed their vantage and enactment Butler successful presumption erstwhile again to adjacent the doorway connected the Celtics successful the last seconds. This time, Butler made definite it would enactment closed, burying a abbreviated jumper to enactment Miami up by 4 with 9.1 seconds to go.
The Celtics mislaid their 3rd overtime crippled of the season, falling to a league-best 18-5 connected the year.
"Yeah, it looked similar he's got his energy, got his legs nether him," said Bam Adebayo, who had 28 points and 7 rebounds to pb the Heat (11-12). "And helium deed immoderate large shots down the stretch."
Miami besides did a overmuch amended occupation connected Jayson Tatum, the Celtics' All-NBA guardant and MVP candidate, who went disconnected for 49 points successful Wednesday's triumph implicit Miami. He had 1 of his worst games of the play Friday night, finishing with 14 points connected 5-for-18 shooting.
The 14 points and 5 made tract goals were some season-lows for Tatum, and it marked conscionable the 3rd clip each play helium has been held nether 20 points successful a game.
"That's the biggest happening astir the league," Adebayo said. "You're not conscionable gonna halt anybody from scoring. I consciousness similar we are making him instrumentality pugnacious shots each clip we play him, and we unrecorded with the result."
Friday marked conscionable the eighth clip that Miami had its projected starting 5 disposable this season. And aft arguably the Heat's biggest triumph to this constituent successful the season, the anticipation wrong the squad is that it's a commencement of a emergence up the Eastern Conference standings.
That content is fueled, successful part, by the team's person returning successful a large mode Friday night.
Butler acknowledged Friday night's thrilling triumph felt good.
"But we ne'er mislaid assurance successful the group, successful ourselves," helium said. "We cognize what we're susceptible of. We conscionable person to spell retired determination and beryllium it, and bash it. We ain't disquieted astir cipher else, conscionable the guys successful this locker room, coaching staff, management. We've got a agelong mode to go, but we tin get there."
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