Miami Heat: Jimmy Butler Must, Simply, Be Better In Game Two

The Miami Heat weren’t themselves, fully on Saturday, but you do have to give the Bucks a bit of credit too.

To Milwaukee’s credit though, they took the appropriate measures of defending Butler throughout Game One. Along with dropping back into zone coverage, they gave him all the space he needed to shoot.

The Bucks were also able to rotate on his drives and throw bodies at him — even committing some dangerously-hard fouls. Milwaukee also had other contributors to Butler’s poor shooting night, as he was held scoreless when defended by Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, and P.J. Tucker — who forced Butler into 0-6 shooting, including two well-contested mid-range jumpers in the first half.

A highlight of Milwaukee’s defense occurred within the final 16.9 seconds of regulation. This was a play that saw the Bucks force a late-game turnover on Butler while he was in-pursuit of one of his signature drives.

A cut-off from Giannis Antetokounmpo, the league’s reigning Defensive Player of The Year, caused Butler to lose his balance as he placed the ball on the floor with no open teammate in sight. Just seconds later, a jump-ball opportunity was called.

Also and just moments after a Heat timeout a little later, Butler had the ball with eight seconds remaining and Antetokounmpo defending. He executed a buzzer-beating layup to send the game into overtime.