The Miami Heat beat the Chicago Bulls Saturday night in thrilling fashion as star Jimmy Butler hit the game-winning shot to put the other team away, 118-116. Butler, Kevin Love, and Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke after the game to talk about the exciting buzzer-beater moment and the drama surrounding around it.
Let's set the stage. The game is tied at 116, Kevin Love gets a huge stop on Bulls big-man Nikola Vucevic and Butler gets the rebound. He is eventually matched up witb Coby White, who he scored on multiple times this game, faked the drive, stepped back, and sunk in the jumper with zeroes on the score board and the buzzer sounding.
The fans inside the Kaseya Center erupt after the shot gives the Heat their 15th win of the season. Butler said after the game that the moment means a lot to him, especially playing in front of the Miami fans.
“It means a lot. It's a pleasure to be able to play in this arena in front of these incredible fans to be able to open with the guys that we have on his roster,” Butler said. “You know, anybody can make that shot. All in all, It's really dope to win because wins are super hard to come by in this league. And as we get guys back, I'm hoping it doesn't come down to that at the end.”
Spoelstra talks about not calling a timeout
Butler scored a game-high 28 points to go along with collecting 11 rebounds in the win. To rewind the moment a bit. After Vucevic missed the possible go-ahead shot and Butler got the rebound, the Heat had a choice to call timeout to settle themselves in and think about a plan to win the game.
Spoelstra opted to let the game play out and for Butler to work his magic. The coach even said after the game that calling a timeout would've been a “buzzkill.”
“That would've been the most incredible buzzkill to call a timeout there. The NBA should institute some kind of rule, if it's a three point game or less in the last minute, no one can call timeout. That was just the best basketball for fans to watch. They didn't call timeout. We didn't call a timeout,” Spoelstra said. “We've been in that situation enough. We know where the ball is going to go. I think the entire area code felt totally fine with Jimmy making that final decision. And there's nothing like a walk off at home against the Bulls. Just kind of us old-heads, it kind of reminds us of a bunch of different things but that was a heck of a play from Jimmy.”
Love's simple plan for the Heat at the end of the game
Love was instrumental in the win to the Bulls as he scored 22 off the bench. He started the game making five out of his five attempts from the three-point line and finished with seven rebounds. After making a stop on Vucevic, he said the plan at the end is to give the ball to Jimmy and “get the hell out of the way.”
“I'm just trying to get around the rim in the off chance that he misses it, but basically give it to Jimmy and get the hell out of the way. So I mean, that's it,” Love said. “In my eyes, he's the best closer in the game when you get him in that type of situation. We all know who he is. You know, he showed it against tonight.”
Butler and Love talk about the non-notable plays before the game-winner
Another instrumental part of the game were the plays that preceded the game-winning shot from Butler. There were about four or five possessions where a Heat player would miss a shot, but then would get an offensive rebound setting up buckets to go back-and-forth with the Bulls. Butler said to ClutchPoints that those are the winning plays besides his shot at the end.
“Of course, you find a way to put the ball in the basket. You take the right shots and sometimes you just miss them and those extra energy and effort plays,” Butler said. “I think Kyle, Caleb, rook, they all got their hands on a basketball and put the ball back in the basket for us.. So that's all part of the win.”
Same with Love, the final few minutes of the game to him came down to the “nitty gritty” and those final plays were in preparation to put the ball in Butler's hands. If those events didn't take place, who knows if Butler hits that shot at the end?
“We had to make plays, forced Vucevic into a tough shot. But there are many players that again, like I said, preceded that and got us to a point where we could get the ball into Jimmy's hands and he could make a play,” Love said to ClutchPoints. “It got down into the nitty gritty of that, we were sharing the ball too. We're getting offensive rebounds, we're getting loose balls, we're doing everything we could to get this win tonight.”
The thrilling win puts the Heat at 15-11 on the season which is good for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Their next matchup is a big one as they face the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference in the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday.
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