Basketball

Miami lost 110-97 to the Boston Celtics on Thursday in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, cutting their lead in the series to 3-2.

Boston head into Game 6 within two wins of making NBA history – no team has ever come from 3-0 down to win a seven-game series.

Butler, though, still has faith the Heat will join the Denver Nuggets in the Finals.

"The last two games are not who we are," he said. "It just happened to be that way.

"We stopped playing defense halfway because we didn't make shots that we want to make. But that's easily correctable.

"You just have to come out and play harder from the jump. Like I always say, it's going to be all smiles, and we are going to keep it very, very, very consistent, knowing that we are going to win next game.

"We've just got to play better. Start the game off better, on the starters, make it more difficult for them.

"They are in a rhythm since the beginning of the game. But we are always going to stay positive, knowing that we can and we will win this series. We'll just have to close it out at home."

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, meanwhile, was in bullish form when he spoke to the media.

"Who cares about mood?" Spoelstra said.

"We have a gnarly group. I think so much of that is overrated. It's a competitive series. You always expect things to be challenging in the conference finals.

"One game doesn't lead to the next game. Based on all the experience that we've had, it doesn't matter in the playoffs. It doesn't matter if you lose by whatever.

"We beat them by whatever in Game 3. It just doesn't matter. It's about collectively preparing and putting together a great game. We'll play much better on Saturday. That's all we just have to focus on right now."

The Heat missed the chance to progress to the NBA Finals as they lost 116-99 to the Celtics on Tuesday.

Miami now hold a 3-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference finals, ahead of Game 5 in Boston on Thursday.

But for Butler, who scored 29 points and added nine rebounds and five assists, there is no reason to be downhearted.

"If anything, it will build momentum for us knowing that we have to play with a lot more energy," Butler said.

"We've got to play like our backs are against the wall.

"I think all year long, we've been better when we've had to do things the hard way.

"We'll be OK. Let's get back to doing what we've always done to get us to this point, continually have belief in one another, knowing that we are going to win, and we will. We've just got to play harder.

"There's not too much to say with this group because we already know. So we've just got to go out there and execute."

Butler's sentiment was echoed by Miami coach Erik Spoelstra.

"At some point, this is great competition. You know, sometimes it can get skewed, because, whatever, the 3-0," he said.

"But we have great respect for Boston, what they are capable of. They are a dynamic offensive team that takes extraordinary efforts and commitment to get the job done. Our guys really want this.

"A lot of what we've done this year has been the hard way. We've been able to figure out ways to win, even if teams are playing well, if we are not in a perfect flow.

"They got us tonight. You have to give them credit for that."

"It's definitely disappointing," said Heat guard Caleb Martin.

"That would have been a perfect world, perfect situation. But as we know and everybody else knows, we don't typically get things the easy way over here.

"So like I said, this is right up our alley. This is the way it goes for us and guys like us. Again, I think it's only going to prepare us for the long run. This could be good for us."

With starters Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry all out due to various injuries, Jimmy Butler was tasked with leading the offense, and he was aggressive from the jump.

He scored only six of his 17 field goal attempts, but finished with a game-high 35 points after going a perfect 23-of-23 from the free throw line. In doing so, he finished one free throw behind James Harden (24-of-24 in December 2019) for the most in one game without a miss.

Butler was not alone in his marksmanship from the line, with his team-mates also combining to shoot 17-of-17, setting the new team record for 40 free throws without a miss.

The Heat star also added seven rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocks in a spectacular two-way performance, while Victor Oladipo chipped in 19 points (seven-of-16 shooting) with four rebounds, four assists and two steals off the bench.

For the Thunder, Josh Giddey collected his second triple-double of the season with 18 points (eight-of-18), 15 rebounds and 10 assists.

Miami are now 22-20, and sit eighth in the Eastern Conference.

Embiid and Harden dominate the Pistons

The stars of the Philadelphia 76ers made light work of the visiting Detroit Pistons, with Joel Embiid and James Harden both enjoying big nights in a 147-116 victory.

Embiid had 36 points (12-of-20 shooting), 11 rebounds and two blocks in just 24 minutes, while Harden posted a strong triple-double with 16 points (six-of-seven shooting), 15 assists and 12 rebounds.

The 76ers have won five of their past six outings to improve their record to 25-15, placing them fifth in the East, 3.5 games behind the league-leading Boston Celtics (29-12).

Mitchell heroics not enough for the Cavaliers

Donovan Mitchell was a man on a mission in his first road game against the Utah Jazz since being traded in the offseason, but the Cleveland Cavaliers ultimately went down 116-114.

Mitchell scored a game-high 46 points on 14-of-27 shooting with six assists, five rebounds and three steals, but his team could not stop the duo of Jordan Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen.

Clarkson top-scored for Utah with 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting, while Markkanen continued to build a case for Most Improved Player as he put up 25 points (six-of-18) and 16 rebounds.

Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart combined for 74 points, as Boston confirmed their 10th conference title and a 22nd finals appearance.

Tatum received the inaugural Larry Bird Trophy for Eastern Conference Finals MVP, coming into Game 7 with an average of 24.8 points.

The three-time All-Star finished Game 7 on the road with 26 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal, in what was an exceptional performance.

In a game of momentum swings, the Heat trailed as much as 17 points at one stage, but gained momentum with defensive stops and consequent transition baskets to bring it back to single digits.

Boston restored their buffer midway through the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run, before Jayson Tatum drained a massive step-back three-pointer deep in the shot clock with just under six minutes remaining.

The Heat fought to get it to a one-possession game, and after backing up Max Strus' triple with a defensive stop, had the ball with 17 seconds left.

Jimmy Butler, who willed the Heat and the series back to Miami with 47 points in Game 6, played all 48 minutes and had the chance to either tie or win the game with what was effectively their final possession.

He opted for the latter but his three-point attempt was short, with Al Horford's rebound confirming the result and series.

The Celtics will now face the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, with Game 1 to take place on Thursday.

The win means the Heat have earned the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and a first-round series against the top-ranked Milwaukee Bucks.

Against the Bulls, Miami led narrowly at half-time courtesy of a sharpshooting performance from Max Strus, scoring 23 points across the first two quarters on the back of six made three-pointers.

Strus went on to finish with an equal game-high 31 points, shooting eight-of-16 from the field and seven-of-12 from deep, providing some offensive firepower beside Butler.

Butler also scored 31, shooting 11-of-24 from the field while adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals in his 43 minutes of action, making up for the fact that starting trio Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Gabe Vincent combined for just 20 points on six-of-23 shooting.

DeMar DeRozan was strong for Chicago, scoring a team-high 26 points on nine-of-19 shooting while adding nine assists, but top option Zach LaVine struggled, shooting six-of-21 for his 15 points.

The result confirms the fourth consecutive postseason appearance for the Heat, where they will be looking for their third Eastern Conference Finals appearance since 2020.

Towns delivers on both ends in Wolves win

Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns produced one of his best games of the season to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder 120-95 and earn a blockbuster first-round matchup against back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic.

Towns, who was only able to suit up for a career-low 29 games this regular season due to a four-month calf injury, scored a game-high 28 points (11-of-16 shooting), grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and blocked a team-high three shots in a great two-way showing.

The Thunder were down all game, but after trimming the margin to 10 points in the third quarter, All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander copped a hard accidental elbow to the face from Rudy Gobert, and while he was able to return, he was nursing a brutal black eye the rest of the way.

Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished fourth in the NBA in scoring at 31.4 points per game, top-scored for Oklahoma City with 22, but shot a disappointing five-of-19 from the field. He was also the only guard in the league to average at least one steal and one block, and he had one steal with three blocks.

The Timberwolves will now get a chance to face the top-seeded Denver Nuggets in the first round, and with Gobert and Towns, they are arguably the West's most equipped team to deal with Jokic from a size perspective.

Butler sat out the Heat's Game 5 win over the Atlanta Hawks as the team secured their first semi-finals appearance since 2019-20, when they went on to lose the NBA finals to the Los Angeles Lakers.

The six-time NBA all-star impressed in the first four games of the first-round series, becoming just the third player in franchise history – after LeBron James and Dwyane Wade – to post 45 points, five rebounds and five assists in a playoff match in Game 2, but missed out on the series-clinching win.

However, the 32-year-old is confident he will return for the top-seeded Heat's opening clash with the 76ers.

"It's all right," Butler said of his knee after Saturday's practice. "We got another day in between. Get out there, rip and ride.

"I know it will be ready to hold up come Monday, but the time off has been great for myself and so many other guys that are nicked up. Everybody's ready to compete."

Guard Kyle Lowry, who also missed out on the Heat's last outing, was also able to do "a little bit more" on Saturday, coach Erik Spoelstra revealed.

Butler said he would be disappointed to see former team-mate Joel Embiid miss out for the 76ers after he suffered a mild concussion and orbital fracture against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday.

"I feel bad for my guy," Butler added. "Obviously, one of my former team-mates, arguably the MVP of this league, and I think I speak for everybody that's a part of this team, we want Jo to play.

"We want to go up against them at full strength and prove that we can hang with anybody and we can beat anybody. 

"It's a mishap. I hope he recovers well and gets back very, very soon."

Butler, who spent part of the 2018-19 season with the Sixers, said Embiid would get his vote for MVP after the 28-year-old averaged 30.6 points per game across the regular season – the highest figure in the NBA.

"I'm not an analytics guy, obviously," he added. "But I was told that they're a much better team defensively whenever he's on the floor, as they should be. I would guess offensively as well. 

"And he makes the right plays as well - but he's been doing this a long time in this league, [I'm] damn sure has been this year. 

"He would get my vote for MVP. It's going to be a challenge, but they beat us once without him."

Miami must now win back-to-back games after slumping to a 93-80 loss on Wednesday, despite having taken a 42-37 half-time lead.

Boston can seal the series on home court on Friday, but Butler is determined to take it to a Game 7 decider on Sunday.

"Besides the fact that anything is possible, we know what we are capable of," he said.

"We know we can play some really good basketball, and we know that we are going to play some really good basketball.

"It's going to have to start in this next game up in Boston. But I just think that we know that we can win."

Butler left Game 3 early with a knee problem and has since been 7-of-32 from the field in consecutive losses.

However, he was in no mood to make excuses for his poor showing.

"It doesn't matter; if I'm out there, I've got to do better," he said. "I've got to find a way to help us win, and I haven't been doing that.

"I'm fine. My knee is okay. I've just got to do better. It's no excuse."

Team-mate Kyle Lowry struck a similarly defiant tone as he sought to issue a rallying call ahead of a crunch clash in Boston.

"We have to continue to just keep working," Lowry said.

"It's the first to four, so we have to go into a hostile environment, and it will be amped up, but I like what our team can do.

"I like the opportunity that we have, and we've got to go in there and fight."

After knocking the ball away from Duncan Robinson and out of bounds in the closing stages of the second quarter on Wednesday, Paul exchanged words with the Heat guard having seemingly hurt his hand in the process.

The 10-time All-Star intercepted the subsequent inbound pass from Butler to Robinson, ripping possession away and throwing it back at him, with the rebound going out for a Thunder ball.

When the Heat came back up the floor on their next possession, Butler got Paul on a switch and intentionally barrelled him over as he drove to the rim.

Explaining the incident after the game, Butler said: "You're not gonna throw the ball at my team-mate like that. So yeah, I'll get a turnover. I'll get an offensive foul.

"We don't do that here. You mess with one of my guys, especially one of my shooters, then you gotta deal with me and everybody else."

Robinson said: "I shot-faked in the corner and I told him [Paul] I should've shot it. We went back and forth a little bit, nothing out of the ordinary for an NBA game.

"He's a really talented player, I have a lot of respect for him, but he also competes and I'm not one to back down from a challenge in that regard.

"I have a ton of respect for him but it was just a heat-of-the-moment thing."

Mike Muscala made a three-pointer with 5.2 seconds remaining to earn the Thunder a 116-115 victory against the Heat, who will face the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the playoffs.

"We gonna go about everything the same we always do. Get better come tomorrow, make sure our bodies are right," said Butler about the tie with the Pacers.

"We've still got them one more time before the playoffs start, so we gotta start by sending a message then."

The Thunder will go up against the Houston Rockets in the first round, pitting Paul against his former team and James Harden, who he reportedly fell out with prior to being traded last year.

The Heat edged out the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-111 on Tuesday, with Butler scoring a game-leading 35 points and going 23-of-23 from the free-throw line.

That means Butler was just one short of James Harden's league record of 24-of-24 free throws, set in December 2019, for the most in one game without a miss.

Butler was not the only Heat player on top form from the line, with the rest of the team shooting 17-of-17, breaking the team record of 39-for-39 made by the Utah Jazz against the Portland Trail Blazers in 1982.

Yet Butler had no clue the Heat were setting a record, with his sole focus on Miami's fightback - they trailed 111-106 heading into the final minute but came out on top in the closing seconds.

"I had no idea," Butler told reporters about the 40 free-throw feat. "I'm more excited that we won this game by one point."

"We won. A complete team effort. I'm proud of my guys. We always talk about finding a way to win. This is a good start to that. Whatever it takes to win."

It was a similar story for Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, who said: "We've been a very good free-throw shooting team all year, but that's crazy.

"I didn't realise we hadn't missed a free throw.

"It's just a normal Tuesday night for the Miami Heat. I think this is when we feel most alive, when everything just happens and when all of our competitive juices get out there.

"That's the team we all can relate to. That's the team I like."

Miami are now 22-20 for the season and sit eighth in the Eastern Conference.

Jimmy Butler wants to get back to enjoying his basketball, but is unsure if that can happen with the Miami Heat.

Butler scored nine of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and the Heat rallied for the second consecutive game for a 111-105 road win over the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Caleb Martin came off the bench to score 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting and Bam Adebayo added 22 points, 17 rebounds and nine assists to help the eighth-seeded Heat take a 2-0 lead back to South Beach for Game 3 on Sunday.

Jayson Tatum had 34 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists but the Boston star went 0 for 3 with two turnovers in the fourth quarter.

Jaylen Brown scored 16 points on 7-for-23 shooting and was 1 for 5 with a turnover in the final quarter, when the Heat outscored the Celtics 36-22.

Miami fell behind by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter and trailed 96-87 with 6:41 remaining.

Butler, however, ignited a game-ending 24-9 run with five straight points before Grant Williams made a jumper to put Boston up 98-92.

Adebayo then sank two from the line and assisted on Duncan Robinson's layup, making it a two-point game.

Grant Williams dunked with 3:56 to play but that would be the Celtics' final field goal of the game. Adebayo made another two from the line and Butler hit a 17-foot jumper and a short fadeaway 26 seconds apart to give Miami the lead for the first time since midway through the third quarter.

After Max Strus made one of two free throws, Adebayo scored on a putback dunk to make it 105-100 with less than a minute left.

Tatum converted three free throws to close the gap, yet Gabe Vincent and Strus took matters away from the Celtics in the closing seconds.

Butler posted a playoff career-high 40 points to lead the Heat past the top-seeded Bucks at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida on Monday.

A five-time All-Star, Butler scored 14 of his points in the final quarter as fifth seeds the Heat upstaged Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.

Butler became just the third player in Miami's postseason history to have at least 40 points, following in the footsteps of Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.

Heat team-mate Goran Dragic added 27 points for Miami, whose 5-0 start to the playoffs is tied for the best ever by a team seeded fifth or lower, per STATS. The Washington Wizards also started 5-0 as the fifth seeds in 2015.

Despite outscoring the Heat 40-29 in the opening quarter, the Bucks were unable to hold on as the Heat's defence starred.

Reigning MVP Antetokounmpo had 18 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Bucks, who were led by Khris Middleton's 28 points.

The Heat and Bucks will meet again in Game 2 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder forced a Game 7 against the Houston Rockets after prevailing 104-100.

Facing elimination in the Western Conference opening round, veteran Chris Paul came up big for the Thunder with 28 points and seven rebounds.

Trailing 98-92 with just over four minutes remaining, former Rockets guard Paul was clutch for the Thunder, nailing a pair of three-pointers down the stretch to lift his team.

James Harden recorded 32 points and eight rebounds for the beaten Rockets, who face the Thunder in Wednesday's decider, while Russell Westbrook had seven turnovers against his former team.

Jazz face Nuggets

The Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets will go head-to-head in Game 7 of their Western Conference first-round matchup on Tuesday. The Boston Celtics and defending champions the Toronto Raptors are also in action in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semi-final series.

The six-time All-Star finished with 45 in a 115-105 win to give the Heat a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.

Only LeBron James (also three) and Dwyane Wade (seven) have previously had as many 40-point games for the Heat in the postseason as Butler.

Indeed, only James (26.9) and Wade (22.6) have averaged more points per game for the Heat in the postseason than Butler (21.9).

And coach Erik Spoelstra, who led a Heat team containing James and Wade to titles in 2012 and 2013, considers Butler worthy of comparison to the latter.

"It actually is a good comparison," Spoelstra said. "If you get in those pressure moments and the moments of truth, if you're on the other side, would you ever want to just give Dwyane Wade an open three?

"You would not, because he's a killer. He's going to seize that moment.

"And Jimmy has a lot of those same qualities. You can say whatever the percentage is – throw those all out when it becomes about winning. He'll find a way to kill you."

Butler's latest display was unlike anything previously seen by a Heat player, though.

At the start of the week, no player had finished with 40-plus points, five-plus rebounds, five-plus assists, no turnovers and no fouls in a playoff game since turnovers became an official statistic in 1977-78.

Butler became the second player to achieve such a stat line in two days, following in the footsteps of breakout Dallas Mavericks star Jalen Brunson.

The two previous 40-point playoff games from Butler had come in the 2020 run to the NBA Finals, which played out in the 'bubble' in Orlando.

But Butler, now paired with point guard Kyle Lowry, feels he is "a different player" in 2022.

"I am a different player now than I was then," he said. "I just always want to play basketball the right way and do whatever it takes to help this team, this organisation win. That's why they brought me here.

"I'm not as ball-dominant as I was in the bubble. We've got a point guard, and that's Kyle, and I love him being a point guard.

"I just get to go out there and try to score. And if I can't score, pass the ball. We're a different team; I'm a different player."

While it is hardly a surprise to see the Los Angeles Lakers come out of the Western Conference, few expected the Heat to be the last team standing in the East.

Butler helped Miami, the fifth seeds in their conference, see off the Boston Celtics in six games, sending the franchise into the finals for the first time since 2014.

The last time the Heat made it so far, LeBron James was on their roster, but this time they must overcome the 16-time NBA All-Star - as well as the rest of the Lakers - if they are to pull off another upset and be crowned champions.

"I'm not going to say that we're any better than anybody else, but I just don't think that we're underdogs. I don't," Butler told the media.

"So what that nobody picked us to be here. That's okay. Pretty sure nobody is picking us to win, either. That's okay. We understand that. We embrace that, because at the end of the day we truly don't care.

"We're just going to go out here and compete, play together like we always have, and I'm going to see where we end up.

"But, at the end of the day, we're going to do this our way, the Miami Heat way, and that way has worked for us all year long."

James twice led Miami to the NBA title during his time with the team before returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he won a further championship in 2016.

While now 35, the first overall pick in the 2003 draft remains at the peak of his powers, according to Butler.

"He's still at the top of his game at 35, at 26, at 21. He's still dominating," Butler said of LeBron. "I mean, you've had to go through him at 26, 35, probably at 49.

"But he's shown why he is the player that he is, why he's had the career and the legacy that he's continually building, and it's not going to be an easy task these next couple of games.

"If anybody is up for that task, the Miami Heat are."

James was Finals MVP when the Heat triumphed in both 2012 and 2013.

He will now make NBA history by becoming the first man to enter a playoffs battle against a team having previously achieved Finals MVP status for that team.

After trailing 62-54 at half-time, the Heat went on a 22-2 run early in the third quarter to storm ahead and never looked back from there. The Heat are 7-0 in the 2022 playoffs at FTX Arena.

Butler's 41-point haul was his sixth time in 12 playoff games where he has hit the 30-point mark. It was also his third 40-point night of these playoffs.

The Heat forward shot 12-of-19 from the floor, along with eight-of-11 in the second half, while he also had nine rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocks in a remarkable all-round display.

Butler becomes the first player this postseason with at least 30 points and four steals in multiple games.

Gabe Vincent (17 points, three assists, three blocks), Max Strus (11 points including three triples, four rebounds, two assists, two steals) and Tyler Herro (18 points, eight rebounds, three assists) all provided good support.

The Celtics were left to lament their 39-14 third quarter, along with their 11-of-34 three-point shooting, cooling off in the second half.

Boston's two-of-15 (13 per cent) third-quarter field goal shooting was their worst in any quarter over the last four seasons. The Celtics only managed four points in the paint in the second half, having scored 42 in the first.

Jayson Tatum top scored for Boston with 29 points with two-of-nine from beyond the arc along with eight rebounds, six assists and four steals.

Jaylen Brown added 24 points, 10 rebounds and three assists, while the absence of Marcus Smart (foot) and Al Horford (health and safety protocols) was felt.

The Heat were also missing veteran point guard Kyle Lowry due to a lingering hamstring issue.

Miami's 12 blocks for the game, led by center Bam Adebayo (10 points, four rebounds, four blocks), was a joint franchise playoff record.

The Denver Nuggets became NBA champions for the first time after a tense 94-89 win over Miami in Game 5 on Monday.

Miami, just the second No. 8 seed out of a conference to reach the NBA Finals, made the Nuggets work for the clinching win. They held a seven-point halftime lead and were 89-88 ahead inside the last two minutes.

But the Nuggets, boosted by another monster performance from NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic, rallied to end the franchise's long championship drought.

Butler has been with the Heat for four seasons and lost out in the NBA Finals twice – with the Los Angeles Lakers triumphant in six games back in 2020 on his previous attempt to lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy – but the six-time All-Star, who is three months from turning 34, remains optimistic.

"It's been great," Butler said to ESPN about his four seasons with the Heat. 

"I've had some helluva teammates come through and compete with me and give us the opportunity to win a championship, which I still believe, with everything in me, that we will do as a team here, as an organisation, as a city in Miami.

"I'm just grateful. I learned so much from this group. They taught me so much. I wish I could have got it done for these guys, because they definitely deserve it."

Coach Erik Spoelstra accepted the Nuggets were worthy winners but spoke with pride about his team's achievements in a dramatic season.

Miami almost lost to the Chicago Bulls during the second game of the Eastern Conference play-in tournament before their sensational run to the Finals, beating the No.1-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, the New York Knicks and championship favourites the Boston Celtics.

"There's no regrets on our end," Spoelstra said. "There's just sometimes where you get beat, and Denver was the better basketball team in this series. 

"Those last three or four minutes felt like a scene out of a movie. Two teams in the ring throwing haymaker after haymaker, and it's not necessarily shot making, it's the efforts.

"I don't know how long it would take me to go through the autopsy of this final game, but I would say that it will probably rank as our hardest, competitive, most active defensive game of the season, and it still fell short.

"You have to tip your hat to them. They are one hell of a basketball team. They play the right way, they compete, they are well-coached and they have a strong culture. 

"So for this season, they deserve this."

Jokic capped a sensational postseason by sparking Denver's comeback from a 10-point second-quarter deficit. The Serbian star finished with 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting along with 16 rebounds. 

Butler ended with 21 points for Miami, while Bam Adebayo compiled 20 points and 12 rebounds but managed just two points in the second half.

Center Adebayo echoed the pride of Butler and Spoelstra when he looked at what had been achieved.

"You take the experience of this season, and if you can just bottle that up and everybody just have their own portion or rewritten story of it, the No. 1 thing, I think, would be will," he said. 

"So looking forward, I think this is one of my favourite teams I've ever been a part of because we willed our way through ups and downs.

"We willed our way through the things that people said we couldn't do."

Butler played 19 minutes in the first half but did not emerge from the locker room for the second at TD Garden.

Yet the Heat were still able to claim a 2-1 lead in the series, a rematch of the 2020 Eastern Conference Finals in the NBA Bubble, thanks predominantly to Adebayo.

Adebayo went 15 for 22 from the field as he scored 31 points and added 10 rebounds.

He also had six assists and four steals. The Heat's 19 steals marked a franchise postseason record and the most for any team in a playoff game since 2015.

Having produced 32 and 27-point games against the Celtics in the bubble, Adebayo's three-highest scoring playoff performances have now all come versus Boston.

"He did his version of what Jimmy does in terms of 'do what's necessary for the game,'" Spoelstra told a media conference of Adebayo, who finished plus-17 in the plus-minus.

"He was extremely assertive, it happened in a lot of moments that were fully in the context of how we want to play. He was just way more assertive on the catch and those moments in between. 

"It wasn't just the scoring, that's what everybody is going to recognise but he did so many things in terms of getting us organised, facilitating, playing point guard for us at times, running offense in the post through him and then defending as he always does one through five against a team that presents a lot of challenges.

"He's a winning player. He really is the heart and soul of our group, you can count on him all the time, he doesn't get caught up in all the noise, he's just out there competing, playing winning basketball, doing it on both ends and doing what is necessary.

"When Jimmy was out in the second half he just stabilised us. It got a little bit gnarly out there and when it did we were able to get the ball to Bam and just get something coherent."

The Heat were beaten 116-105 by the Atlanta Hawks in the seventh seed clash on Tuesday at Kaseya Center.

A slow start from Miami saw them trail by 15 points at half-time, and they were unable to make up that deficit in the second as Atlanta eased to victory to book their place in the playoffs.

Butler scored 21 points with nine assists, but just four rebounds, and he lamented his and his teammates' inability to retrieve the ball all game, with the Hawks making 63 overall to the Heat's 39.

"We have to stay confident," Butler said. "We have to know we are capable of winning, if we start out the right way and if we rebound, obviously.

"But it's just, I don't know, shots don't go in, we foul, that's never the recipe for success with us. So come Friday, we've got to play legit the exact opposite that we played tonight.

"Rebounding was just horrendous. We didn't put body on body and they got all the rebounds, all the second-chance points. And that was the game."

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra concurred, adding: "There's probably been a little bit more than a half-dozen times, maybe eight to 10 times, where we have not rebounded where it has just been absolutely crippling, in terms of how it's hurt us.

"We definitely have to get to the film and go back to all the fundamentals. We knew coming into this game, this game would be decided [by] ball in the air, ball on the floor, and it certainly was."

Hawks center Clint Capela made an impressive 21 rebounds in the game, and Heat guard Tyler Herro – who scored 26 points – thought bad luck came into play, but admitted that could not be used as an excuse.

"The ball was bouncing their way, literally, the whole game," Herro said. "But that's not any type of excuse to why we couldn't rebound the ball.

"They beat the hell out of us on the glass, so it wasn't even close. So we can point fingers, do whatever, at the end of the day they beat the hell out of us on the boards and that's what it is."

Trae Young starred for the Hawks, scoring 25 points with seven assists and eight rebounds, and he anticipates a tough encounter with the second seed Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.

"Obviously, Boston is a really good team," Young said. "But I haven't really looked too far ahead. I mean, obviously I watched them all year. They've been playing really well. But I was really focused on tonight and making sure we won."

Young also referenced Butler's comments from earlier in the week when he said he thought the Heat would get the win, adding: "I know Jimmy guaranteed a dub, so I was really focused on making sure that didn't happen."

Butler praised Young after the game, saying: "He's a hell of a player. He makes all the right reads. Obviously, he's a big time shot-maker, and he even got eight rebounds, so I don't think we took too much away [from] them tonight."

Jimmy Butler lived up to his billing as he turned in a superb display in the Golden State Warriors' play-in win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Pistons selected Cunningham out of Oklahoma State with the first overall pick in this year's draft.

Much is expected of the 20-year-old as he seeks to lift Detroit, who finished bottom of the East last season having been in the playoffs as recently as 2019.

Cunningham scored 20.1 points per game in college last year and should offer help to Jerami Grant on offense.

After Grant's 22.3 points in 2020-21, Derrick Rose (14.2) was the team's next-best scorer, and he left for the New York Knicks after 15 games.

It meant the Pistons had the fourth-worst offense in the NBA (106.6 points per game).

Cunningham, who had 1.6 steals and 0.8 blocks, is a two-way talent, but the need is less pressing on the defensive end of the floor, where Detroit ranked 10th in giving up 111.1 points.

The focus will certainly be on his scoring, yet Casey is happy to stay patient with the team's young new star.

"One thing I know: Cade won't be a bust. He's not. That's one thing, you can guarantee that," Casey said. "But there will be growing pains.

"We have to be supportive. He's going to have a target on his back each and every night, and it's something that [we], his team-mates, the coaching staff, the whole organisation [have] to make sure we support him.

"There's going to be some nights he scores seven and there's going to be some nights he scores 25."

Reflecting on his status as a number one pick, Cunningham said he was "just writing my own story" and added: "This is a different pressure than I've ever faced before, I guess, but I don't really look at it as pressure.

"It's more an opportunity to show people something than to think about all the bad things that can happen."

He echoed Casey's sentiments, however, as he said: "I know it's the NBA and nothing is given to you.

"You have to be humble coming in and just take it for what it is, just try to work your way up. I feel like if you can be consistent every day and just work hard, the good things will come.

"I'm not really going to press, trying to force the issue too early. I want to make sure everything is smooth with the squad and be patient."