Butler wins it at the buzzer for Miami, as Heat top Bulls 118-116
Jimmy Butler hit a step-back jumper as time expired to give the Miami Heat a 118-116 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.
Butler had 28 points to help Miami split of a two-game home series with Chicago. Kevin Love added 22, Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 18, Caleb Martin 17 and Kyle Lowry 10.
DeMar DeRozan led Chicago with 27 points. Coby White added 22, Torrey Craig had 16, Patrick Williams 15 and Nikola Vucevic finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
There were four lead changes and five ties in the final quarter, the last of those ties coming when Lowry made a layup with 31 seconds left.
Vucevic missed a hook on the next Chicago possession, Butler grabbed the rebound and the Heat — who had two timeouts — didn't call one and left the game in his hands.
Nobody else touched the ball again.
Butler came up the left side of the floor, then went to the right, headed toward the lane and coolly hit the step-back over White as time expired.
Miami again played without Bam Adebayo (hip) and Tyler Herro (ankle). They went through a workout a couple hours before the game and are likely to return in the coming week, possibly as early as Monday.
Craig was ruled out at halftime with a right foot injury, and the Bulls were again without Alex Caruso — who aggravated a left ankle issue when got stepped on by teammate Nikola Vucevic in the opening minutes of Chicago's victory at Miami on Thursday night.
"Hopefully, a few days clears it up," Bulls coach Billy Donovan said about Caruso. "But we don't anticipate him missing any major time."
The teams combined for 21 3-pointers in the first half, the seventh-most in a game so far this season. Chicago made 11, Miami 10 — and Love started 5 for 5. His fifth 3-pointer put the Heat up 39-24 just 13 seconds into the second quarter, before Chicago outscored Miami 33-19 over the rest of that period and went into the half down just 58-57.
Miami led 91-80 going into the fourth before Chicago rallied again — but Butler had the last word.
UP NEXT
Bulls: At Philadelphia on Monday night.
Heat: Host Minnesota on Monday night.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
