The Miami Heat were coming off a game in which they should have won on Friday, losing Game 3 to the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks to see the series go to 2-1 in the opening round.
Though they would be without their starting point guard, Kyle Lowry, in Sunday’s Game 4 matchup, they couldn’t allow the Atlanta Hawks to continue to feel like they could compete. With a team like them, with several electric scorers and the return of two of their big men propelling momentum, you couldn’t afford to give them any life if you were the Miami Heat.
Though it didn’t start immediately, you could see that the Miami Heat could sense that as well. While they played flawless ball in the first half, finishing with zero turnovers, they would still finish with less than half of the Hawks’ 15 giveaways in the game with seven of their own.
Despite missing Kyle Lowry, the Heat finished the first half with zero turnovers.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) April 25, 2022
To get right to it though, this was all about Jimmy Butler again, as it was in Game 2.
The Miami Heat needed a big game from everybody with Kyle Lowry out of Game 4. However, Jimmy Butler would step up the biggest again, as he had in Game 2.
Though he seemed to be dead set on getting his guys involved to begin the game, especially with a focus on his big man in Bam Adebayo, he would eventually get himself going.
Finishing the contest with 36 points, 10 rebounds, and fours assists on 12-21 from the field and 1-2 from three, it was that, team discipline, and defense that got the Miami Heat a big win in Game 3 of this series.
Jimmy’s near-40 piece on 57 percent from the field and 50 percent from range, though on low range volume, can’t be understated either though. Now averaging 30.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.8 steals, a half-block per game, and only a turnover per game, he’s got his hands all over this series.
He’s also got his hands all over the ball, as this was his second game without a turnover, at all, during this series. That’s just the cherry on top of two great games for him.
The Miami Heat now head home with a chance to close the door on Tuesday in their home arena. In these scenarios, the team with the 3-1 lead, almost, always wins.
To be specific and according to the numbers, teams that lead a best-of-seven series 3-1 go on to win the series about 90 percent of the time or a little over. Plainly put, the Miami Heat are the better team in this series and they should look to finalize that notification to the world on Tuesday.