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Heat

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; The Denver Nuggets act like they&rsquo;ve been here before.
There is an&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-2023-heat-nuggets-b0f83f7baccd425dbf8aba440e3e210c">unmistakable poise</a>&nbsp;to the Nuggets, who are&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-miami-heat-denver-nuggets-abb4788990b6fb026d65d83c8bc4bb8b">only one win away</a>&nbsp;from their first NBA championship and could hoist the Larry O&rsquo;Brien Trophy as early as Monday night when the finals return to Denver for Game 5. Their stars have been starry in their first finals appearance. Their role players have delivered. There hasn&rsquo;t been a colossal blunder. And even on the cusp of a title, they refuse to change their approach.
&ldquo;We need to win one more,&rdquo; two-time MVP Nikola Jokic said.
That&rsquo;s the Nuggets. Simple. Effective. Blunt.
With Jokic and Jamal Murray leading the way, and with basically a different person stepping up to be the third hero every night so far for the Nuggets, they have the Miami Heat in serious trouble now.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-2023-heat-nuggets-b0f83f7baccd425dbf8aba440e3e210c">They lead the finals 3-1</a>&nbsp;and with potentially two of the next three games &mdash; if needed &mdash; in Denver.
&ldquo;We get an opportunity to play a super competitive game in a great environment,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s going to be an awesome environment. Our guys are built for that. They love that. &hellip; Yeah, we understand what the narrative will be, but that&rsquo;s the way it is with our team.&rdquo;
History says this series is pretty much over; only one team in NBA history has dug its way out of such a hole in the finals, that being the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers against the Golden State Warriors. Heat forward Kevin Love played for that Cleveland team.
&ldquo;Forget the game,&rdquo; Love said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just one possession, one quarter, half by half. Just get it done by any means necessary and we&rsquo;ll figure the rest out.&rdquo;
It will be a daunting task.
The Nuggets have held Miami under 100 points three times through the first four games; those were the three Denver wins in the series. They&rsquo;re 9-1 at home, the only loss coming in Game 2 of this series when Miami pulled off a big rally and survived when a potentially game-tying 3-pointer by Jamal Murray missed at the buzzer.
&ldquo;This is what I always tell my guys: Winning a championship will be the hardest thing you ever do,&rdquo; said Heat forward Udonis Haslem, a three-time champion whose 20-year career ends when this series ends. &ldquo;People only talk about the parade and holding up the trophy. They don&rsquo;t talk about the journey, the sleepless nights, the frustration, the tears, the pain. They don&rsquo;t talk about that (stuff). This is all part of that.&rdquo;
Denver isn&rsquo;t talking about a parade; some city officials in Dallas were during the 2006 finals when the Mavericks led Miami 2-0, and the Heat won the next four games. The Nuggets aren&rsquo;t making any such blunders. No blunders at all, really. Every detail is covered, even remembering to run the 24-second shot clock down to the very end on multiple possessions in the final minutes of Game 4, just to shorten the game and limit whatever chance Miami had at making a comeback.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done our job. But we&rsquo;re not celebrating like we&rsquo;ve done anything yet,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;We know we&rsquo;re going to have to go home and turn off the TV, the radio, don&rsquo;t read the papers, don&rsquo;t listen to everybody telling you how great you are. &hellip; We stay true to our identity.&rdquo;
Here&rsquo;s what that means: The Nuggets have two exceptional players, a two-time MVP in Jokic playing the role of Batman and a still-rising star in Murray happily playing the role of Robin in Denver&rsquo;s superhero duo.
Jokic &mdash; who will never willingly enter a conversation about his incredible stats &mdash; is on the cusp of becoming the first player to ever lead the NBA in points, rebounds and assists during a postseason. Murray is the first player to have at least 10 assists in each of his four finals games. They have been the 1-2 punch that has put Miami on the ropes throughout this series.
And then there&rsquo;s always a third or fourth hero to finish the job. In Game 1, it was Michael Porter Jr. with 14 points and 13 rebounds. In Game 3, it was rookie Christian Braun with 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting. In Game 4, it was Aaron Gordon with a team-high 27 points and Bruce Brown with 21 off the bench.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s just how this team is built,&rdquo; Gordon said. &ldquo;We have guys that can step up night in and night out. Sometimes it&rsquo;s not going to be your night, and sometimes it is going to be your night. This team does a good job finding the people that are kind of in a rhythm and kind of going.&rdquo;
Jokic gets most of the credit and doesn&rsquo;t want it. Murray doesn&rsquo;t get enough credit and doesn&rsquo;t care about that, either. The other guys, they just take their cues from Jokic and Murray and find a way.
If they do it one more time, they&rsquo;ll be getting rings in a few months.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just ready to win a championship,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;We have the tools to do it. It&rsquo;s been on our minds for a while. We&rsquo;re just locked in. I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;ve got to overthink it. We&rsquo;re just dialed in, ready to win.&rdquo;

Despite the fact that is their first NBA Finals appearance, the Denver Nuggets act like they’ve been here before.

Nuggets showing plenty of poise in NBA Finals against Heat

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Aaron Gordon scored 27 points, Nikola Jokic added 23 and the Denver Nuggets moved one win away from their first NBA championship by beating the Miami Heat 108-95 on Friday night to take a 3-1 lead in the title series.
Bruce Brown scored 21 off the bench for the Nuggets, who took both games in Miami to grab complete command. They&rsquo;ll have three chances to win one game for a title, two of those in Denver, the first of them in what&rsquo;s sure to be a raucous atmosphere for Game 5 on Monday night.
Jamal Murray had 15 points and 12 assists &mdash; his fourth consecutive double-digit assist game &mdash; for Denver.
Jimmy Butler scored 25 points for Miami, which has now fallen into 3-1 holes in each of its last three finals appearances &mdash; this one joining 2014 and 2020. Bam Adebayo had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat, while Kyle Lowry had 13 points.
The Heat walked off the floor in silence, fully aware of how much trouble they&rsquo;re in now.
The Nuggets were overwhelming favorites to start the series, for obvious reasons. Denver was the Western Conference&rsquo;s No. 1 seed; Miami was the Eastern Conference&rsquo;s No. 8 seed. The Nuggets had won nine of the last 10 regular-season meetings between the teams, and their run of success over the Heat has continued through four games of the finals.
Denver led by 13 going into the fourth, and Miami came out for the final quarter with appropriate desperation. The Heat scored the first eight points, Jokic committed his fifth foul and had to go to the bench with 9:24 left &mdash; and it was down to 86-81 when Butler converted a three-point play with 8:42 remaining.
But the Nuggets &ndash; who fell apart in the fourth quarter of Game 2 for their lone loss of the series &ndash; didn&rsquo;t fold, even with their two-time MVP still out. Murray made a 3-pointer to stop Miami&rsquo;s 8-0 spurt, and Jeff Green made a huge corner 3 from near the Heat bench for a 94-85 edge with 6:21 left.
Jokic checked out with Denver up 10. He came back with the Nuggets up nine.
Miami didn&rsquo;t take advantage of that chance, and now finds itself on the wrong end of history. Teams that take a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals have won 35 out of 36 previous times, and the Heat will have to buck that trend to keep Denver from winning its title.
The Nuggets even survived a scare. Jokic tweaked his right ankle when he landed on the back of Max Strus&rsquo; foot midway through the opening quarter. He remained in the game after it happened, briefly retreated to the Denver locker room before the start of the second quarter and played the rest of the way with no evident issues.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Murray played with tape protecting the bottom of his left hand, thanks to a nasty floor burn he got in Game 3. &hellip; It was Denver&rsquo;s 25th win on the road this season, tying a franchise record set last season. ... Michael Porter Jr. scored 11 for the Nuggets.
Heat: It was retiring 20-year veteran Udonis Haslem&rsquo;s 43rd birthday and rookie Nikola Jovic&rsquo;s 20th birthday. Jovic was 58 days old when Haslem signed his first Heat contract. &hellip; If it was Miami&rsquo;s home finale this season, then the Heat went 613-299 in its home arena during his career. &hellip; Miami started the playoffs 6-0 at home. The Heat are 0-4 on their home floor since.
SLOW START
Miami led 21-20 after one quarter. The 41 combined points were the fewest in the first quarter of the last 24 finals games; the first quarter of Game 4 of the Toronto-Golden State series in 2019 had 40 points.
CELEB WATCH
Kentucky coach John Calipari was in the crowd, as was Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, two-time WNBA MVP A&rsquo;ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields and twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder &mdash; who helped the Miami Hurricanes make the Elite Eight in this year&rsquo;s NCAA women&rsquo;s tournament.

The Nuggets moved one win away from their first NBA championship by beating the Heat 108-95 on Friday night to take a 3-1 lead.

Nuggets now in full command of NBA Finals, top Heat 108-95 for 3-1 lead

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Never had two players from the same team had 30-point triple-doubles in the same game. Never in the regular season. Never in the playoffs. Certainly never in the NBA Finals.
Until now.
Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray made history Wednesday night &mdash; and have the Denver Nuggets two wins away from making some real history as well.
Jokic and Murray became the first teammates in NBA Finals history to both record triple-doubles, and the Nuggets reclaimed the lead in the series by beating the Miami Heat 109-94 in Game 3.
&ldquo;By far, their greatest performance as a duo in their seven years together,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said, after his team moved two wins away from Denver&rsquo;s first title.
Jokic finished with 32 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists &mdash; the first such game in NBA Finals history, or at least the first since assists were tracked. Murray had 34 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, getting the rebound he needed with 9 seconds remaining.
The Nuggets outrebounded the Heat 58-33, and took a 2-1 lead. Game 4 is Friday in Miami.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just glad that we won the game,&rdquo; Jokic said. &ldquo;It was a big one for us because they won in our arena. We just didn&rsquo;t want to go down 2-1.&rdquo;
Jimmy Butler scored 28 points for Miami, and Bam Adebayo finished with 22 points and 17 rebounds. Caleb Martin added 10 points.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to come out with more energy and effort and that&rsquo;s correctable,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s on us as a group.&rdquo;
Jokic and Murray combined for 24 field goals; Miami had 34. Jokic and Murray combined for 31 rebounds; Miami had 33. Jokic and Murray combined for 20 assists; Miami had exactly that many.
Somehow, some way, the Heat know they need to find an answer before Friday.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not an easy task to do,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;But if we want to win, we&rsquo;re going to have to figure it out.&rdquo;
Miami has been the comeback kings of these playoffs &mdash; seven rallies in games after trailing by at least 12 points. The Heat were down by 14 going into the fourth, and Malone reminded his club of Miami&rsquo;s penchant for comebacks.
&ldquo;First two games, they won the fourth quarter,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;Tonight, we win the fourth quarter, we win the game.&rdquo;
His team listened.
The lead eventually reached 21, the outcome never seriously in doubt, and Jokic looking very much like he&rsquo;s back in cruise control. The Heat got within nine on a 3-pointer by Duncan Robinson with 1:22 left, but there was no epic finish for Miami. Murray and Jokic had the Nuggets too far ahead to get caught.
&ldquo;You have to expect there to be elite talent in the finals,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;And both those guys are elite-level talent.&rdquo;
Officially, Jokic is now the seventh player to have two triple-doubles in the same finals. Magic Johnson and LeBron James each did it in three different finals. Draymond Green, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird and Butler all had one title series with two triple-doubles.
It was Jokic&rsquo;s 10th triple-double of these playoffs, extending his single-season record, and he was unbothered by whatever Miami threw his way. He finished 12 for 21 from the floor, 7 for 8 from the line, playing 44 minutes.
&ldquo;We were more locked in, more focused,&rdquo; Jokic said.
Christian Braun was tremendous off the bench for the Nuggets, scoring 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting in 19 minutes. Aaron Gordon added 11 for Denver.
And afterward, they both marveled at what their stars did in Game 3.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s greatness, man. It&rsquo;s greatness,&rdquo; Gordon said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a dynamic duo right there.&rdquo;
Added Braun: &ldquo;I would say that it&rsquo;s what they do every game.&rdquo;
Miami never led in the second half. A dunk by Adebayo put the Heat up 44-42 with 3:18 left in the half, before a 3-pointer by Murray represented the seventh and final lead change of the night. It was 53-48 at halftime, before Denver pushed the lead to double digits for the first time early in the third and wound up leading by as many as 19 later in that period.
The Heat stole home court by winning Game 2 in Denver, a game where Murray had a chance to force overtime with a 3-point try that missed at the end. The Nuggets now have the lead again, and there was no Game 2 hangover on Wednesday.
&ldquo;Not just me,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Everybody bounced back.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Denver used Reggie Jackson in the first quarter, going nine deep in the opening 12 minutes for the first time since Game 2 of the West finals. ... Denver hadn&rsquo;t lost two consecutive games to Miami since March 14 and Nov. 30, 2016. Jokic played in both of those games, Murray in the second one early in his rookie season.
Heat: It was the first finals game in Miami since 2014. The Heat didn&rsquo;t have any &ldquo;home&rdquo; games in the 2020 finals, which were held in the NBA&rsquo;s restart bubble near Orlando. ... Wednesday was the 11th anniversary of LeBron James&rsquo; 45-point, 15-rebound, five-assist game at Boston in Game 6 of the East finals &mdash; staving off elimination. The Heat won Game 7 and went on to beat Oklahoma City for James&rsquo; first title.
HASLEM RECORD
Miami&rsquo;s Udonis Haslem &mdash; in his 20th and final season &mdash; set a record. He became the oldest player to appear in the NBA Finals, breaking the mark of 42 years, 58 days set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on June 13, 1989.
Haslem turns 43 on Friday. He played the final 29.8 seconds.
RARE COMPANY
Jokic had 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the first quarter. The only other players in the last 25 years to have that in any quarter of a finals game were Stephen Curry (12-7-5) for Golden State in the third quarter against Cleveland on June 4, 2017, and Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal (12-7-3) for the Los Angeles Lakers in the second quarter against Philadelphia on June 8, 2001.
CELEB WATCH
Former Heat player and NBA champion Mike Miller &mdash; now an agent &mdash; was at the game, along with one of his clients, Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/Pp_doesit/status/1666599282634260482?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Banchero tweeted</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;game ain&rsquo;t even started yet i&rsquo;m in here star struck.&rdquo;
DJ Khaled was in attendance, along with soccer greats Neymar and Paul Pogba (on the day Lionel Messi committed to play for Inter Miami), Shakira, Magic Johnson, J. Cole (who played a role in getting Caleb Martin to the Heat) and Dwyane Wade &mdash; who starred for Miami&rsquo;s title teams in 2006, 2012 and 2013.
<div class="Component-dfp-0-2-206 apnews_article_midarticle_2" data-card-id="sovrn-article-midarticle">&nbsp;</div>

Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray made history Wednesday night — and have the Nuggets two wins away from making history as well.

Jokic, Murray have triple-doubles, Nuggets beat Heat 109-94 for 2-1 lead

Bam Adebayo remembers the moment he started looking at Gabe Vincent differently.
&ldquo;Man, [it was] when he torched us in the Olympics, in the exhibition game facing Nigeria,&rdquo; Adebayo recalled. &ldquo;He came out with that type of energy, that type of voracity and that type of anger. I felt like from there, &lsquo;He's one of us.&rsquo;&rdquo;
In the game Adebayo referenced, Vincent scored 21 points, drilled 6-of-8 threes and clinched Nigeria's exhibition win over Team USA with a pair of clutch free throws in the final seconds. Vincent decided to wear Nnamdi (his middle name) on the back of his jersey, describing it as &ldquo;an alter ego of sorts; I almost become a different person.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Now, back on one of basketball&rsquo;s biggest stages, Nnamdi has resurfaced.&nbsp;
Vincent played a huge role in Miami&rsquo;s win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, as he finished with 23 points, 4 threes, 3 assists and 2 steals on uber-efficient 66.7/66.7/100 shooting splits. Through two Finals games, Vincent is averaging 21 points, 4.5 threes, 4.0 assists and a steal, while shooting 57.7% from the field, 56.3% from three and 100% from the free-throw line.
He's had a number incredible performances during these playoffs, including 29 points, 6 threes, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block on 78.6/66.7/100 shooting in a Game 3 win over the Boston Celtics, a 22-point, 6-assist, 4-three outing to eliminate the Milwaukee Bucks, and back-to-back 20-point, 5-assist games against the New York Knicks.
&ldquo;We love Nnamdi. We really do,&rdquo; Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;If you don't know that [moniker], the national media, because you're not following us, please look that up. 
"Nnamdi, he's a special guy. He really is.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Gabe Vincent is the kinda hooper you love to play with. (via <a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a>) <a href="https://t.co/qT6ekpY390">pic.twitter.com/qT6ekpY390</a>
&mdash; SLAM (@SLAMonline) <a href="https://twitter.com/SLAMonline/status/1665760391027392513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2023</a></blockquote>

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By now, you have certainly heard that Vincent went undrafted in 2018. He spent the first two years of his pro career playing for the Stockton Kings of the NBA G League, and he earned the G League&rsquo;s Most Improved Player award after averaging 21.1 points, 4.2 threes, 3.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 steals, while shooting 40.6% from deep.&nbsp;
Miami gave him an opportunity during the 2019-20 season, signing him to a two-way contract. The Heat saw potential in him, but they wanted him to transition from shooting guard to point guard. He put in a ton of work, winning over the coaching staff and his teammates.
&ldquo;He was with us in the bubble as a two-way guy. He took on, I think, the toughest role change for a young player,&rdquo; Spoelstra explained. &ldquo;He was a gunslinger 2-guard [and] we wanted to develop him into a combo guard, somebody that could organize us, be an irritant defensively, tough, learn how to facilitate and run a team. I think that's the toughest thing to do in this league: turn a 2 into a 1. He openly just embraced that. 
"He struggled at times with that because you're trying to reinvent yourself.&nbsp;Instead of saying, &lsquo;This is too tough, let me be me,&rsquo; he's really grown the last three years. He's just an incredible, winning player. This year, he's been a starter for us. He's been great. [When] he's off the bench, he's been great. He's like a lot of our guys, the competitive spirit. You get challenged like we're getting challenged in this series, you hope it brings out the best in you. And that's what it's doing with him...
&ldquo;People severely overestimate what you can get accomplished in a day, and they grossly underestimate what you can get accomplished in a matter of months [or] years when nobody is paying attention. And he's the epitome of that.&rdquo;
Looking back on his transition from shooting guard to point guard, Vincent admits that it was tough and credits his support system for helping him with the change.
&ldquo;It definitely wasn't easy,&rdquo; Vincent said. &ldquo;The staff was great with me &ndash; whether it was [watching] film or getting in the gym &ndash; and my teammates have been phenomenal, coaching me up, telling me to be more aggressive when I'm questioning it or trying to think, &lsquo;Should I pass first?&rsquo; And our stars, Jimmy, Kyle [Lowry], Bam, they have been in my ear and telling me just to play basketball. They trust my IQ of the game, and they want me just to go out there and play hard.&rdquo;
Spoelstra isn&rsquo;t the only one who loves Nnamdi; he has a lot of fans in Miami&rsquo;s locker room too.
&ldquo;He's carving a space for himself,&rdquo; Adebayo said of Vincent. &ldquo;[He&rsquo;s proving] undrafted players can start in the Finals and be productive. It doesn't mean anything that he's undrafted.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I see it every day&hellip; I know how comfortable he is,&rdquo; Jimmy Butler said. &ldquo;I know the level of confidence that we have in him and that he has in himself to go out there and run the offense at any point in time, first through fourth quarter, maybe even overtime. And we live with the decisions and the shots that he makes and takes. He's our starting point guard for a reason.&rdquo;
Entering the postseason, nobody thought the Heat could go on a Finals run. They are a Cinderella story, proving all of their doubters wrong and doing the unthinkable &ndash; just like Miami&rsquo;s undrafted players (Vincent, Caleb Martin, Max Strus, Duncan Robinson, Udonis Haslem, Haywood Highsmith and Omer Yurtseven) have done by becoming key pieces in recent years.
&ldquo;This season has been interesting. We've had highs, we've had lows,&rdquo; Vincent said. &ldquo;Obviously, we've made a push from the eight seed to the Finals. We've showed a lot of resilience, a lot of persistence, a lot of belief in one another.&rdquo;
As Vincent mentioned, this Heat team is extremely resilient. Throughout these playoffs, the Heat have won seven games after trailing by 10 or more points, which is tied for the most comeback victories by a team in a single postseason.
&ldquo;It's just part of our DNA, for one,&rdquo; Vincent said. &ldquo;Everyone on this team has battled through adversity in some manner and been knocked down and had to get back up. And number two, we have a lot of experience in these close games. So when it comes down to the wire, we are strangely comfortable&hellip; I think [Spo] loves these moments as well. He loves the competition. I think this is similar to other guys on our team. I think this is when we get the best version of Spo.&rdquo;
Regardless of the deficit, Miami never thinks they are out of a game. Their confidence never wavers.
&ldquo;I think you grow confidence in anything you're doing with the amount of work you put in, whether it's cooking or golf or basketball,&rdquo; Vincent said. &ldquo;I think we all put a lot of hours and time in and extra reps and shots so that when the time comes, you have faith and have confidence because of the work you have instilled. This group especially has put in a lot of work on the court [and] off the court, battling together. We're definitely a confident group.&rdquo;
Vincent&rsquo;s breakout couldn&rsquo;t have come at a better time &ndash; not only because he&rsquo;s helped propel Miami within three wins of a championship but because Vincent will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1.&nbsp;
Vincent earned just $1,815,677 this season, which <a href="https://twitter.com/BobbyMarks42/status/1663359595224653825" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranked 397th among all NBA players</a>. Now, after his terrific postseason, the 26-year-old is poised for a big payday.&nbsp;
An NBA scout <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article275722471.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently told</a> Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald that Vincent's next deal could pay him around $10-11 million annually.
"I've gone from thinking this guy is a good $3 million backup to [thinking he's] a $10 million, $11 million player; he's worth that in today's NBA," the scout <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article275722471.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. "The guy has produced when it counts, and that's what teams are looking for. He has risen to the occasion.
"He's up and down at times with his shooting, but he's a clutch shooter, and that means something. He has got cojones. He's never afraid of the moment. You get high effort defensively. Decent playmaker, has toughness. To me, his value correlates a lot to his scoring."
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As Adebayo said recently: &ldquo;I feel like a lot of people are going to know who Gabe Vincent is.&rdquo;

Gabe Vincent is playing his best basketball on the NBA's biggest stage, and the timing is perfect given his upcoming free agency.

Heat's Gabe Vincent playing his best basketball at the perfect time

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Caleb Martin was undrafted coming out of college. He entered the NBA with almost no guarantees. He had to play in the G League. Charlotte let him go after two seasons.
Desperate for a second chance, he joined the Miami Heat on a two-way contract to basically start from scratch again.
That&rsquo;s what it takes for some guys to make the league.
And that&rsquo;s what it took for Martin to make the NBA Finals.
On a Heat team filled with undrafted contributors, Martin stood out and became the breakout star of the Eastern Conference finals. He averaged 19.3 points on 60% shooting, scored a playoff-career-high 26 points on Boston&rsquo;s home floor in Game 7, and the Heat needed it all to oust the Celtics and earn a trip to the title round against the Denver Nuggets.
&ldquo;I definitely reflect on where I started and the journey it&rsquo;s taken to get here, and even as early as the two-way last year,&rdquo; Martin said. &ldquo;But I think more than anything, it&rsquo;s kind of a weird feeling because I&rsquo;m also understanding that as happy as I am, as grateful I am to be here, I also understand that we have four more. The job is not done. We didn&rsquo;t go through what we went through all the regular season and my personal journey to stop here.&rdquo;
That&rsquo;s the credo for so many in the Heat locker room.
The captain, 20-year veteran and soon-to-be retired Udonis Haslem, was undrafted. Starting point guard Gabe Vincent, undrafted. Starting shooting guard Max Strus, undrafted. Duncan Robinson, who has made more 3-pointers than anyone in Heat history, undrafted. Haywood Highsmith, who gave the Heat tremendous minutes of energy off the bench against the Celtics, undrafted.
Miami will finish this postseason with more points and starts from undrafted players than the other 15 teams that made the playoffs this year will &mdash; combined. The Heat currently have 876 points and 39 starts from undrafted guys; the rest of the league has 778 points and 31 starts. Denver basically doesn&rsquo;t play anyone that isn&rsquo;t undrafted, so the Heat margin on the rest of the league will only grow the rest of the way.
&ldquo;That storyline is over,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said earlier in these playoffs about the undrafted contributors. &ldquo;These guys have proven themselves as competitors and winning players.&rdquo;
They have. But pointing it out isn&rsquo;t a sign of disrespect. It&rsquo;s a hat tip to the Heat buzz word &mdash; culture.
Miami&rsquo;s player development program &mdash; taking players that other teams overlooked, finding their strength, figuring out how to implement it into the Heat system and then working them like never before &mdash; is raved about by many in the league, and Martin is one of the best examples right now. He was one vote away from being the MVP of the East finals after shooting 11-for-16 and scoring 26 points in Game 7 on Monday night, after not playing at all in a Game 7 loss to Boston in last year&rsquo;s East finals.
&ldquo;That might have surprised y&rsquo;all,&rdquo; said Heat star Jimmy Butler, who won the MVP trophy. &ldquo;To the untrained eye, he just looks like he&rsquo;s an undrafted guy who has been in the G League, who has started with Charlotte and now he&rsquo;s here. Started on a two-way contract. That&rsquo;s what it looks like to y&rsquo;all. To us, he&rsquo;s a hell of a player, hell of a defender, playmaker, shotmaker, all of the above.&rdquo;
It makes sense that some longshot players helped the Heat get here &mdash; since as a No. 8 seed that almost was eliminated in the play-in tournament, Miami was a longshot to do much of anything in the playoffs, much less make the finals for the league-best seventh time in the past 17 seasons.
Martin was solid in the first two rounds against No. 1 Milwaukee and No. 5 New York, averaging 10.8 points on nearly 53% shooting. Against the second-seeded Celtics, his numbers soared. Boston took a risk and didn&rsquo;t spend a lot of defensive effort on Martin.
He made the Celtics pay for that one.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s super-high-level competition,&rdquo; said Martin, whose twin brother, Cody, has been at many Heat playoff games this spring and has spent his four NBA seasons with Charlotte. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t hide it. You figure out if you&rsquo;re built for these type of environments or not whenever you get into them. I just I feel like I&rsquo;ve just been continuously prepping and getting ready for these moments, and when these moments come, I feel like I&rsquo;m ready for them. I feel like I&rsquo;m built for these type of moments.&rdquo;
Martin signed a three-year, $20 million contract last summer. For the real world, that&rsquo;s a ton of money. For the NBA, that makes him an absolute bargain. It&rsquo;s something he likely never saw coming when he was in college at N.C. State and Nevada, then never heard his name called on draft night, then got told he&rsquo;d have to fight for everything he got in the league.
But he was at his best when Miami needed him most. And now the finals await.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m so proud and happy for him,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s going to be even better in the next round, and I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s going to be a surprise to anybody any longer.&rdquo;

Caleb Martin stood out and became the breakout star of the Eastern Conference finals, averaging 19.3 points on 60% shooting.

Caleb Martin is the Miami Heat's latest undrafted success story

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; The Boston Celtics were a tenth of a second away from elimination. The Miami Heat were a tenth of a second from the NBA Finals.
Derrick White owned that final moment.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1662660685023657984?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">White scored on a putback as time expired</a>&nbsp;and the Boston Celtics moved to the brink of the greatest comeback in NBA playoffs history, holding off the Miami Heat 104-103 on Saturday night to force a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference finals.
&ldquo;Derrick White, like a flash of lightning, just came out of nowhere and saved the day, man,&rdquo; Boston&rsquo;s Jaylen Brown said. &ldquo;An incredible play.&rdquo;
White knew it was good. Referees reviewed it, but it didn&rsquo;t take long to give the official word.
Elation for Boston. Devastation for Miami.
&ldquo;Ball came to me,&rdquo; White said. &ldquo;I made the shot.&rdquo;
Perhaps Boston will call it The Shot.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
DERRICK WHITE JUST SENT THE CELTICS TO GAME SEVEN ARE YOU KIDDING ME 😱😱😱 <a href="https://t.co/CwWBN9FcKM">pic.twitter.com/CwWBN9FcKM</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1662658954256687104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2023</a></blockquote>

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White became the second player in NBA history to hit a buzzer-beater with his team trailing and facing elimination &mdash; Michael Jordan&rsquo;s &ldquo;The Shot&rdquo; for Chicago against Cleveland in 1989 being the other.
&ldquo;I was just happy,&rdquo; White said. &ldquo;Season was on the line. We don&rsquo;t want to go home.&rdquo;
Jayson Tatum scored 31 points, Brown scored 26 and Marcus Smart added 21 for the Celtics, who became only the fourth NBA team to erase a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series and force a deciding game. The others in that club &mdash; the 1951 New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, the 1994 Denver Nuggets in the second round and the 2003 Portland Trail Blazers in the first round &mdash; all lost Game 7, all on the road.
Boston, however, is going home for its shot at history. Game 7 is Monday night on the Celtics&rsquo; floor, a matchup that&rsquo;ll decide who meets the Western Conference champion Denver Nuggets in a title series that will start Thursday.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a seven-game series,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing better than Game 7s.&rdquo;
Jimmy Butler made three free throws with 3.0 seconds left &mdash; the foul was originally called with 2.1 seconds left; referees put 0.9 seconds back on after reviewing the play to see if it was a 3-point try that Al Horford fouled him on &mdash; for a one-point Heat lead. It capped a Miami rally from 10 points down with less than 4 minutes remaining.
The Celtics had White inbound the ball on the game&rsquo;s final possession, and he passed to Smart &mdash; who missed a 3-pointer. But White sprinted from the inbound spot to the rim, the ball fell into his hands and he got the lay-in away just before time ran out to extend Boston&rsquo;s season.
There had been other buzzer-beaters from players whose teams were facing an elimination game, but before Saturday, only Jordan&rsquo;s came with his team trailing.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla was asked what went through his mind at that moment.
&ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; Mazzulla said. &ldquo;Game 7.&rdquo;
Butler scored 24 points and Caleb Martin had 21 for the Heat, who are trying to pull off their own improbable trek to the title series by being only the second No. 8 seed to make the NBA Finals. They&rsquo;ve now lost as many games this week &mdash; three &mdash; as they had in their first 14 playoff games this spring combined on the way to ousting No. 1 Milwaukee, then No. 5 New York and taking what was supposed to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead over the second-seeded Celtics.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to go on the road and do something special,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;ve got a special group.&rdquo;
The Celtics have now won five of their last six East finals games in Miami &mdash; a stretch that includes a Game 7 over the Heat last season to reach the NBA Finals.
That one, obviously, ended the Heat season. At least this time, Miami still has a chance.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how we&rsquo;re going to get this done, but we&rsquo;re going to go out there and get it done,&rdquo; Spoelstra said. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s what the next 48 hours is about. There&rsquo;s been nothing easy about this season for our group, and so we just have to do it the hard way.&rdquo;
The Heat are the 151st team to grab a 3-0 series lead in a best-of-seven. All 150 of the previous clubs finished the job. But the Celtics have made very clear that they have other ideas, and Mazzulla listed a lot of reasons why.
&ldquo;Faith. Love. Togetherness. Physicality. Belief. Hope.&rdquo; Mazzulla said. &ldquo;All those things combined. It starts with the locker room. Those guys had a choice to make and they chose to believe in each other.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Celtics: The Celtics are 5-0 when facing elimination this season, 3-0 on the road. They beat Philadelphia twice on their way to erasing a 3-2 lead in the East finals, and now have tied this series. &hellip; Malcolm Brogdon (right forearm strain) was downgraded to out about an hour before game time. ... White scored 11 for the Celtics, and Robert Williams III had 10.
Heat: Gabe Vincent scored 15, Duncan Robinson scored 13 and Bam Adebayo added 11 for Miami. ... Diddy was at the game, as was former Heat guard Goran Dragic and Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk. &hellip; Unless Miami wins Game 7 at Boston, it may have been the final home game of Heat forward Udonis Haslem&rsquo;s 20-year career. The Heat are 613-297 in the 910 games in their home arena with Haslem on the roster; that doesn&rsquo;t include the restart bubble&rsquo;s home games in 2020.
GAME 7 HISTORY
The Celtics are 27-9 in Game 7s, winners of their last four &mdash; including one in Miami last season and one earlier this season, against Philadelphia in the East semifinals. They&rsquo;re 1-1 against the Heat all-time in such games (losing the 2012 East finals deciding game in Miami), and 22-5 at home in Game 7.
The Heat are 6-5 all-time in Game 7s, losing their last two (home vs. Boston in 2022, at Toronto in 2016), and are 0-2 when facing such a game on the road. Besides the Raptors game seven years ago, they lost a Game 7 at Atlanta in 2009.

The Celtics moved to the brink of the greatest comeback in NBA history, holding off the Heat 104-103 on Saturday to force a Game 7

White’s putback as time expires lifts Celtics past Heat, forces Game 7

Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday is the recipient of the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award, the NBA announced today. This honor recognizes the player who's deemed the best teammate based on his selfless play, leadership and dedicaton to the team.
This is Holiday's third time winning the Teammate of the Year award, as he also won it last season and in 2019-20. The award has been around for a decade, as it was first handed out in the 2012-13 season.
Unlike the other end-of-season awards, this honor is voted on by NBA players, who choose the winner from a list of 12 finalists (six from each conference) selected by a panel of team executives. Nearly 400 NBA players voted on this award.
Holiday received 57 first-place votes and 1,359 total voting points. Brooklyn Nets wing Mikal Bridges was the runner-up, with 39 first-place votes and 1,190 total voting points.
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (42 first-place votes, 1,117 total points), New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose (36 first-place votes, 1,097 total points) and Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem (52 first-place votes, 1,023 total points) rounded out the top-five.
Here are the complete voting results:
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/tm2.png" alt="" width="752" height="265" />
The Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award is named for Jack Twyman and Maurice Stokes, whose storied friendship transcended their Hall-of-Fame accomplishments. Twyman and Stokes were teammates on the Rochester/Cincinnati Royals from 1955-58. In the last game of the 1957-58 regular season, Stokes sustained an injury that led to him falling into a coma days later and becoming permanently paralyzed. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic encephalopathy, a brain injury that damaged his motor-control center. Stokes was supported for the rest of his life by Twyman, who became his legal guardian and advocate.
Twyman helped organize the NBA&rsquo;s Maurice Stokes Memorial Basketball Game, which raised funds for Stokes&rsquo; medical care and, after Stokes&rsquo; death in 1970 at age 36, for other players in need. In 2004, after years of lobbying by Twyman, Stokes was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Twyman, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983, died in 2012.

Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday is the recipient of the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award, the NBA announced today.

Bucks' Jrue Holiday named NBA's Teammate of the Year once again

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Jimmy Butler returned from his sprained ankle to score 28 points, Max Strus added 19 and the Miami Heat topped the New York Knicks 105-86 on Saturday to take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Bam Adebayo had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Miami and Kyle Lowry added 14 points as the Heat never trailed.
Duncan Robinson opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer, giving Miami an 11-point lead &mdash; and the lead remained double digits the rest of the way.
Jalen Brunson scored 20 for New York, which got 15 from Josh Hart, 14 from RJ Barrett and 12 from Immanuel Quickley &mdash; who left midway through the fourth quarter after appearing to twist his left ankle. Julius Randle added 10 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks.
Game 4 is Monday.
There was even a Heat-Knicks dustup under a basket,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/heat-knicks-nba-playoffs-2023-6383364c2ebdf6f3fe7dbb4af99cdf04">just like the good ol&rsquo; days of the teams&rsquo; playoff rivalry</a>&nbsp;&mdash; though this one was nothing like P.J. Brown flipping Charlie Ward in 1997 to start a bench-clearing mess that led to suspensions, or Jeff Van Gundy tugging on Alonzo Mourning&rsquo;s leg in 1998.
This one, such as it was, happened with 14.7 seconds left in the third, after a basket by Quickley got the Knicks within 87-70.
Randle and Cody Zeller got tangled as they fought for rebounding position. Randle ended up getting shoved to the floor, Isaiah Hartenstein took offense and shoved Zeller, Caleb Martin took offense and shoved Hartenstein, and it took about five minutes to sort out a mess that lasted for about five seconds.
The final tally: offsetting technicals on Zeller and Hartenstein, plus a technical on Martin. Randle missed the free throw. And right after it happened, Butler was dancing a bit, enjoying the aftermath of the show.
&ldquo;Much ado about nothing,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Butler missed Game 2 with his ankle sprain and limped at times in the second half Saturday, but was effective throughout. He had 10 points in the opening quarter as Miami set the tone on both ends; the Heat made 10 of their first 15 shots, the Knicks missed 13 of their first 17, and it took until midway through the second quarter for New York to make a shot from anywhere other than the paint.
TIP-INS
Knicks: The 86 points were New York&rsquo;s second-fewest of the season. The Knicks had 85 in a loss to Brooklyn on Nov. 9. &hellip; Barrett was whistled for a technical foul early in the second quarter for throwing the ball into the stanchion in frustration.
Heat: Gabe Vincent was whistled for an offensive foul while shooting a 3-pointer with 2 minutes left in the third; after Spoelstra challenged it, the call was overturned to a shooting foul on Brunson and Vincent made all three free throws for a 21-point lead. &hellip; Udonis Haslem (stomach illness) missed the game. It was the 224th Heat playoff game of his 20-year tenure; he&rsquo;s played in 148 of those, but this was his first postseason instance of being listed as inactive.
SCORING SPREE
The 58 first-half points by Miami were the most for a team by halftime of a Heat-Knicks playoff game. The Heat had 57 in the first half vs. New York on April 24, 1998. New York&rsquo;s most by halftime in a playoff game against the Heat is 55, set in Game 1 of this series.
CLANK
The teams combined to shoot 15 for 72 on 3-pointers &mdash; 8 for 40 by the Knicks, 7 for 32 by the Heat. It was the 1,290th game played in the NBA this season and only eight other had a worse combined 3-point percentage than the .208 put together by New York and Miami in this one.
EXPERIENCE MATTERS
The Heat have a huge edge in this series when it comes to playoff experience. Lowry played in his 115th playoff game, Butler his 104th, Kevin Love his 71st, Adebayo his 54th and Robinson his 46th. Brunson played his 33rd, which is tops among those in the Knicks&rsquo; rotation.

The Miami Heat topped the New York Knicks 105-86 on Saturday to take a 2-1 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Butler scores 28, Heat top Knicks 105-86 for 2-1 series lead

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Jimmy Butler scored 42 points and the Miami Heat staged a second straight stunning fourth-quarter rally before winning 128-126 in overtime on Wednesday night in Game 5 to complete an upset of the top-seeded Bucks in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
Two nights after outscoring the Bucks 30-13 in the final six minutes of a 119-115 victory in Miami, the Heat produced another huge comeback and tied the game on&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1651441852153835520?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Butler&rsquo;s layup with half a second left in regulation</a>.
Miami went on to become the sixth No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed. The last time it happened was in 2012, when a Philadelphia 76ers team featuring current Bucks guard Jrue Holiday capitalized on Derrick Rose&rsquo;s knee injury to beat the top-seeded Chicago Bulls.
The Heat advanced to a second-round series with the fifth-seeded New York Knicks, who completed their 4-1 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier Wednesday. Game 1 is Sunday in New York.
&ldquo;Because we&rsquo;ve been in so many of these close games in the fourth quarter, our guys take pride &mdash; a lot of pride &mdash; in our mental toughness and physical toughness going down the stretch, particularly in close games,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;We had to show that. We had to show that in all four of the wins.&rdquo;
Bam Adebayo put the Heat ahead for good by dunking in a putback of Butler&rsquo;s missed driving layup attempt with 4:44 left in overtime. The Bucks trailed 128-126 and had the ball in the closing seconds, but the clock ran out before Grayson Allen could take a shot as he drove to the basket.
Adebayo had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Gabe Vincent added 22 points.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 38 points and 20 rebounds for the Bucks, though he shot just 10 of 23 on free-throw attempts. Khris Middleton added 33 points.
Milwaukee led 102-86 after three quarters but shot just 5 of 25 from the floor in the fourth quarter and overtime.
The Heat tied the game on two occasions late in the fourth quarter before Middleton made two free throws to put Milwaukee back ahead with 27.8 seconds left.
Then things really got interesting.
After calling a timeout, the Heat got the ball to Butler, whose 3-point attempt missed with 18 seconds left. Holiday made two free throws with 14 seconds remaining to make it a four-point game, but Vincent&rsquo;s 3-pointer cut the lead to one with 8.4 seconds left.
The Bucks had the ball in the backcourt when Holiday threw an errant pass that eluded Middleton. Miami&rsquo;s Kyle Lowry initially was called for a foul as he chased the loose ball, but the Heat successfully challenged the call and it was ruled a jump ball.
Brook Lopez tipped the ball to Antetokounmpo, whose pass nearly went out of bounds before Middleton saved it to Holiday. After getting fouled with 2.1 seconds left, Holiday missed his first free throw before sinking the second to make it 118-116.
After the Heat called timeout, Vincent stood in front of the Bucks bench and threw an inbounds pass to Butler, who was waiting under the basket to make the tying score.
&ldquo;Just get the ball to Jimmy,&rdquo; Vincent said. &ldquo;The game plan was simple: Get the ball to Buckets and let him do what he do,&rdquo; Vincent said. &ldquo;Max set a great screen, Jimmy created some space and went up and got it.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Heat: Udonis Haslem picked up a technical foul from the Heat bench after exchanging words with Milwaukee&rsquo;s Bobby Portis during a second-quarter timeout. &hellip; Erik Spoelstra earned his 100th career playoff coaching victory. The 100th win enabled him to tie Larry Brown for fifth place on the all-time list Spoelstra&rsquo;s 99 wins put him in a tie for sixth with Red Auerbach. &hellip; The Heat improved to 3-1 in postseason series against the Bucks. The Heat won first-round series in 2013 and 2020 and lost a first-round series in 2021.
Bucks: Wesley Matthews returned to action for the first time since straining his right calf in Game 1. &ldquo;Tough is probably a gross understatement,&rdquo; Matthews said after a Wednesday morning shootaround as he discussed the pain of missing three playoff games. &hellip; The Bucks went out in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2018, when they lost in seven games to Boston as a No. 7 seed.

Jimmy Butler scored 42 points and the Heat won Game 5 to complete an upset of the top-seeded Bucks.

Heat rally again to win in overtime, eliminate top-seeded Bucks

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Max Strus had another 3-pointer taken away in an elimination game. He and Jimmy Butler made sure it didn&rsquo;t matter.
The playoffs await.
Strus and Butler &mdash; who was doubled over at times in the final moments, heaving for every breath &mdash; scored 31 points apiece, and the Miami Heat closed the game on a 15-1 run to beat the Chicago Bulls 102-91 in an Eastern Conference play-in game Friday night.
&ldquo;Our team has obviously not been perfect this year,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;But I do know one thing about the men in that locker room: The last 48 hours, I know how categorically, unequivocally, how badly and desperately our group wanted to get into this damn thing &mdash; and get into the playoffs to have an opportunity to compete for a title.&rdquo;
Their reward: the No. 8 seed in the East and a first-round matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA&rsquo;s top overall seed, starting Sunday.
DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 26 points and nine assists. Alex Caruso added 16 points, Zach Lavine had 15 but shot just 6 for 20, and Coby White scored 14. Chicago got a road win at Toronto on Wednesday to extend its season, but couldn&rsquo;t get the second road victory it needed to make the playoffs.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re disappointed,&rdquo; Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. &ldquo;When you make that investment from September to the middle of April, that&rsquo;s a lot of time. You reflect back a little bit. I think they&rsquo;re all disappointed. We were getting better as a group, I think, since the All-Star break. It would have been nice if we found a way to win tonight and continue on to the playoffs, but it didn&rsquo;t happen.&rdquo;
Tyler Herro added 12 points and Bam Adebayo grabbed 17 rebounds for Miami, which trailed by six midway through the final quarter.
But Butler scored while getting fouled with 2:17 left to put Miami ahead for good, found Strus for a 3-pointer &mdash; his seventh of the night &mdash; a minute later to push the lead to five, and Strus sealed it with three free throws after getting fouled on a try from beyond the arc with 40 seconds remaining.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think any of us felt any type of pressure,&rdquo; Butler said. &ldquo;We went out, we competed.&rdquo;
The Heat led by 14 in the first quarter, held as much as a 10-point lead in the third quarter, then found themselves down by six with 7:12 remaining.
A 9-3 spurt over the next 2 minutes &mdash; Butler had seven, Strus had the other two &mdash; pulled the Heat into a tie, and into all-too-familiar territory. The NBA defines clutch games as those that are within five points or less in the final 5 minutes, and the Heat played a league-high 54 of them during the regular season.
Maybe it prepared them for this moment. White made a 3-pointer with 3:47 left to put the Bulls up 90-87. The score the rest of the way: Heat 15, Bulls 1.
&ldquo;Win or go home,&rdquo; said Strus, an Illinois native who started his career with the Bulls. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not done yet.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Bulls: Chicago was a combined 13-1 this season against Miami, Detroit, Portland, Utah and Dallas. &hellip; The Bulls didn&rsquo;t trail Miami by more than nine in any of the three regular-season matchups between the teams. ... Nikola Vucevic had 12 points.
Heat: Strus had 14 points in the first quarter, matching the seventh-best scoring effort in any quarter of his career. &hellip; This was the 21st Heat team to finish a regular season with a winning record; they were 44-38. All 21 have made the playoffs. ... Kyle Lowry was limited in the second half with a knee issue, but told Spoelstra postgame that he was fine.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Heat and Bucks split four meetings this season, both going 2-0 at home. Butler averaged 22 points per game to lead all players in the season series. Adebayo and Milwaukee&rsquo;s Giannis Antetokounmpo both averaged 19.5, and Herro averaged 19.
BILLY AND UDONIS
It was the final time Donovan will share a court with one of his college players at Florida, Heat captain Udonis Haslem, who will retire when this Miami season ends. All of Haslem&rsquo;s NBA and college coaches were at the game, with Erik Spoelstra on the Heat sideline, Pat Riley in the Heat president&rsquo;s box, Stan Van Gundy broadcasting for TNT and Donovan leading the Bulls.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not surprised about the impact he&rsquo;s had on the community here and I&rsquo;m not surprised about the impact he&rsquo;s had inside the organization,&rdquo; Donovan said. He also lauded Haslem for prioritizing winning and never leaving the Heat even though he had offers elsewhere &ldquo;for a lot more money.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
Bulls: Season complete.
Heat: Visit Milwaukee in Game 1 on Sunday.

The Miami Heat closed the game on a 15-1 run to beat the Chicago Bulls 102-91 in an Eastern Conference play-in game Friday night.

Heat eliminate Bulls 102-91, will face Bucks in Round 1

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; It was October 19, the night the season started for most NBA teams. Chicago went to Miami, Oklahoma City went to Minnesota.
Nearly six months later, here they are again: Chicago at Miami, Oklahoma City at Minnesota.
This time, the season is about to end for two teams.
The NBA&rsquo;s play-in tournament wraps up Friday night with a pair of elimination games &mdash; the Bulls at the Heat for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, followed by the Thunder at the Timberwolves for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. The winners go on, the losers go home.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a lot of ups and downs this season,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;Nothing about this season has been easy.&rdquo;
Chicago and Oklahoma City have already won road games to stay alive, at Toronto and New Orleans, respectively. They became the first No. 10 seeds to win on the road in the three-year history of the play-in tournament &mdash; and if they do it again Friday, they&rsquo;re going to the postseason.
&ldquo;We know going there, it&rsquo;s another great road test against a team that&rsquo;s seasoned and is coming off a loss and will look to rebound and play to their identity and their style,&rdquo; Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. &ldquo;We have a lot to get ready for.&rdquo;
The Bulls were 3-0 against Miami in the regular season. Minnesota took three of four from the Thunder in the season series.
&ldquo;This is a new opportunity, a new challenge in front of us,&rdquo; Donovan said.
MATCHUPS
EASTERN CONFERENCE
NO. 10 CHICAGO (40-42, 1-0) AT NO. 7 MIAMI (44-38, 0-1)
Friday, 7 p.m., TNT
Season series: Bulls, 3-0
How they got here: Miami lost to Atlanta 116-105 on Tuesday, Chicago defeated Toronto 109-105 on Wednesday.
Previous play-in appearances: Both teams made their play-in debuts this week.
At stake: Winner plays Milwaukee in Game 1 on Sunday; loser&rsquo;s season is over.
Outlook: Miami is trying to avoid becoming the first team to go 0-2 at home in a play-in tournament. &hellip; Chicago had the NBA&rsquo;s best scoring defense after the All-Star break, and Miami had the NBA&rsquo;s lowest scoring offense all season. &hellip; The matchup pits Heat guard Kyle Lowry against Bulls guard DeMar DeRozan, longtime teammates and backcourt standouts in Toronto. &hellip; Other ties that bind: Heat star Jimmy Butler faces his former team, Heat forward Udonis Haslem ( in perhaps the last game of his career ) facing his college coach in Donovan, and Bulls guard Patrick Beverley facing a team that he nearly made back during Miami&rsquo;s Big 3 era in the early 2010s; he was an end-of-camp cut.
X-factor: Chicago held Miami to 34% shooting on 3-pointers in the three regular-season meetings. Heat are 19-24 this season when shooting no better than that from beyond the arc.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
NO. 10 OKLAHOMA CITY (40-42, 1-0) AT NO. 8 MINNESOTA (42-40, 0-1)
Friday, 9:30 p.m., ESPN
Season series: Timberwolves, 3-1
How they got here: Minnesota wasted a 15-point lead and lost to the Los Angeles Lakers 108-102 in overtime on Tuesday, Oklahoma City won at New Orleans 123-118 on Wednesday.
Previous play-in appearances: Both teams made the play-in for the first time this season.
At stake: Winner plays Denver in Game 1 on Sunday; loser&rsquo;s season is over.
Outlook: Minnesota had the upper hand in much of the season series, holding leads of 14 points in one game, 16 in another and 22 in a third. The Thunder&rsquo;s biggest lead in any of the four games was 12, and didn&rsquo;t lead by more than six points in any of the other three games. &hellip; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had games of 35, 33 and 32 points against the Wolves, while Anthony Edwards had the high game for Minnesota in the season series with a 30-point contest. &hellip; The Wolves were 2-0 with Karl-Anthony Towns in the lineup against the Thunder. &hellip; Minnesota is trying for back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since 2003 and 2004. The Thunder haven&rsquo;t made the playoffs since 2020.
X-factor: Minnesota center Rudy Gobert returns after his one-game suspension for the altercation with teammate Kyle Anderson. He&rsquo;s surely going to face pressure; how he responds might be critical.

The final two games of the NBA play-in tournament are tonight:  Chicago at Miami and Oklahoma City at Minnesota.

Final NBA Play-In matchups: Bulls at Heat, Thunder at Wolves

Some moments from the 2022-23 NBA regular season:
Oct. 18: Boston defeats Philadelphia and Golden State beats the Los Angeles Lakers on opening night. <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/golden-state-warriors-nba-sports-stephen-curry-e246e86804a28295efea3e00d33dc510" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Warriors received their championship rings</a> from last season in a ceremony preceding their game.
Oct. 20: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-lakers-san-antonio-spurs-miami-heat-nba-sports-8e45a1092f25e28f0672a83d317a9a68" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA referee Tony Brown, 55, dies of pancreatic cancer.</a> He worked more than 1,100 games in a two-decade career.
Nov. 4: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-nba-sports-kyrie-irving-racial-injustice-972e41eed3debbd9a548433c78227f05" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nike suspends its relationship with Kyrie Irving</a> and canceled plans to release his next signature shoe, part of the massive fallout caused by the Brooklyn Nets&rsquo; guard tweeting a link to a film containing antisemitic material. Nike and Irving eventually part ways; Irving eventually apologizes and returns to the Nets.
Nov. 5: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1589042762686795777?s=20&amp;t=nk9Tw0T3tQEq6Mw4vOqrsg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sacramento&rsquo;s De&rsquo;Aaron Fox</a> hits from just inside the midcourt stripe at the buzzer of overtime, giving the Kings a 126-123 win in Orlando.
Nov. 8: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-nba-sports-breonna-taylor-fc0f38a2c59da07f90833ae479e66cc0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">To commemorate Election Day,</a> the NBA plays no games. The league encourages its teams and fans to spend the day participating in civic engagement.
Nov. 11: The arena where the Miami Heat play starts the process of getting a new name, after the <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ftx-miami-heat-arena-name-change-b3f47e4fb5bb0f102560fa6956997bdb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapses.</a> FTX was in the early stages of a 19-year, $135 million naming rights deal with Miami-Dade County.
Nov. 13: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/philadelphia-76ers-utah-jazz-nba-sports-joel-embiid-bef34587365fd8e8668f6024ab73d05a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Philadelphia&rsquo;s Joel Embiid scores a career-best 59</a> points in a win over Utah. He adds 11 rebounds, eight assists and seven blocked shots.
Nov. 28: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-lakers-indiana-pacers-nba-sports-b6e1415dd4d8fa0fac2a10c8477da348" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andrew Nembhard hits a 3-pointer at the buzzer</a> and Indiana stuns the Los Angeles Lakers 116-115. The Pacers trailed by 17 with 9:27 remaining; it was the biggest fourth-quarter comeback in the NBA this season.
Dec. 13: The NBA announces a rebranding of its MVP award, revealing a new trophy and a new name &mdash; <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/chicago-bulls-charlotte-hornets-nba-sports-david-stern-de67e49f0255ef10f140365636110ae4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Michael Jordan Trophy.</a>
Dec. 17: In Mexico City, <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/san-antonio-spurs-miami-heat-nba-sports-duncan-robinson-074cecb1060491994c22a42efa8670a6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Miami defeated San Antonio 111-101.</a> It was the NBA&rsquo;s first game in Mexico City since 2019.
Dec. 20: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-cavaliers-phoenix-suns-college-football-nba-sports-f455a8e3b437a07aa4684c7dd3adb16b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mortgage billionaire Mat Ishbia</a> strikes a deal to purchase embattled Robert Sarver&rsquo;s share of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury in a deal that values the franchise at $4 billion.
Dec. 25: Philadelphia tops New York, Dallas beats the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston beats Milwaukee, Golden State tops Memphis and Denver edges Phoenix in the NBA&rsquo;s Christmas quintupleheader.
Dec. 27: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/new-york-knicks-dallas-mavericks-sports-basketball-luka-doncic-ed7d9ce55160d04e2c206f6a8b742cdd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dallas&rsquo; Luka Doncic has a 60-point triple-double</a> in the Mavericks&rsquo; 126-121 win over New York. He added 21 rebounds and 10 assists in the first 60-20-10 game in NBA history.
Jan. 2: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/kobe-bryant-chicago-bulls-los-angeles-lakers-cleveland-cavaliers-utah-jazz-ef2ccddb44dd42fa14ebed5f8344c5a2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cleveland&rsquo;s Donovan Mitchell scores 71 points</a> in the Cavaliers&rsquo; 145-134 overtime win over Chicago. Mitchell was 22 of 34 from the field, 7 of 15 on 3-pointers and 20 for 25 from the foul line. He also had 11 assists, marking the first time anyone had more than 70 points and 10 assists in an NBA game.
Jan. 10: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-oklahoma-city-thunder-nba-sports-basketball-18113c7918466a8d6a41714b963403cb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Miami goes 40 for 40 from the foul line</a> in a one-point win over Oklahoma City. The 40-for-40 breaks the previous NBA record of 39-for-39 by Utah in 1982.
Jan. 13: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/chicago-bulls-atlanta-hawks-san-antonio-spurs-nba-sports-e05988d6e1537c605aad5ea8a14d4887" target="_blank" rel="noopener">At the Alamodome in San Antonio,</a> the Spurs sell an NBA-record 68,323 tickets for a game against Golden State.
Jan. 19: With presumed 2023 No. 1 draft pick Victor Wembanyama sitting courtside, Zach LaVine scores 30 points and the <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/chicago-bulls-nba-sports-jaden-ivey-hamidou-diallo-3770db44edb9a08e1ad116ecad45109f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chicago Bulls ease past the Detroit Pistons 126-108</a> in Paris. France was the seventh different country to host an NBA practice or game this season.
Feb. 6: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-lakers-new-york-knicks-dallas-mavericks-clippers-nba-ea90e45174274a917654448db9554dfc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brooklyn trades Kyrie Irving to Dallas,</a> ending his up-and-down stint with the Nets that was more memorable for off-the-court challenges than actual play.
Feb. 7: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/lebron-james-nba-scoring-record-cd0df2a355eaf80c6d534cbb16d44ca9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LeBron James makes a 14-foot jumper late in the third quarter to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s career NBA scoring record.</a> Abdul-Jabbar held the mark since 1984 and was in Los Angeles to watch James&rsquo; record-breaker.
Feb. 9: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-phoenix-suns-nba-sports-basketball-3932b34f477549895cce131490bec86d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brooklyn trades Kevin Durant to Phoenix,</a> a blockbuster on NBA trade-deadline day.
Feb. 16: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/boston-celtics-nba-sports-basketball-ime-udoka-151efe3c319c986b770437cd25794339" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boston removes the interim title from 34-year-old coach Joe Mazzulla,</a> the former assistant who took over the Celtics in September after now-former coach Ime Udoka was suspended by the team for having an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the organization.
Feb. 18: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/milwaukee-bucks-sports-nba-all-star-game-walker-kessler-collin-sexton-6a2ea26147bafb0f80ea77620cacf2e9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Philadelphia&rsquo;s Mac McClung puts on a scintillating show</a> to win the dunk contest at All-Star weekend. Portland&rsquo;s Damian Lillard wins the 3-point contest and Utah players Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton combined to win the Skills Challenge.
Feb. 19: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-lebron-james-kyrie-irving-giannis-antetokounmpo-2cf83e2e57350687e68ba89a6deb2707" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boston&rsquo;s Jayson Tatum scores a record 55 points</a> and Team Giannis tops Team LeBron 184-175 to win the All-Star Game in Salt Lake City.
Feb. 24: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-clippers-sacramento-kings-nba-sports-malik-monk-4047cea9a226d5fd135de97c65d0d054" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sacramento defeats the Los Angeles Clippers 176-175.</a> The 351 combined points are the second-most in NBA history, behind only Detroit&rsquo;s 186-184 win over Denver on Dec. 13, 1983.
Feb. 26: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/houston-rockets-portland-trail-blazers-nba-sports-damian-lillard-1e1a83642e942d51d91ee014b5b7947c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Portland&rsquo;s Damian Lillard scores 71 points</a> in the Trail Blazers&rsquo; 131-114 win over Houston. Lillard made 22 of 38 shots from the field, 13 of 22 from 3-point range and all 14 of his free throws. He also led Portland in assists, with six.
Feb. 27: <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/utah-jazz-atlanta-hawks-nba-sports-playoffs-264bcc009ce664a640b5c903e35f1656" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Atlanta introduces Quin Snyder</a> as its new coach, after firing Nate McMillan about a week earlier.
March 4: Memphis guard Ja Morant live-streams himself holding a gun while inside a Denver-area strip club. He quickly announces he was taking &ldquo;some time away to get help&rdquo; and ultimately was <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ja-morant-suspended-nba-gun-video-8cc82061f6465f96d6c5d0806d92d7d0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspended for eight games by the NBA</a> for his personal conduct.
March 17 and 19: A tale of two comebacks. San Antonio blew a 29-point lead on March 17 and lost to Memphis 126-120; two nights later, the Spurs rallied from a 24-point second-half deficit and beat Atlanta 126-118. It was the biggest second-half comeback for the Spurs under coach Gregg Popovich.
March 29: Jrue Holiday has 51 points, eight assists and eight rebounds, while Giannis Antetokounmpo adds 38 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists, and Milwaukee tops Indiana 149-136. <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/Bucks/status/1641271779380559872?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">It&rsquo;s the first time in NBA history two teammates</a> have had at least 38 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in the same game.
April 1: In the early morning hours, <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-labor-players-0cf524b13e459eeb5853dad9a455e0e0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association strike a handshake deal</a> on what, if approved by owners and players, will be a seven-year Collective Bargaining Agreement that will take effect in July and ensure labor peace in the league until at least 2029.
April 7: Dallas sits several regulars, including Kyrie Irving, and plays Luka Doncic for only about a quarter in a loss to Chicago. The loss eliminated the Mavericks from postseason contention and the team&rsquo;s motivation for losing catches the eye of the NBA, <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/mavericks-playoffs-nba-investigation-tanking-7ac5f76590adafd9df1c7c590a78d346" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which opens an investigation the next day.</a>
April 9: Udonis Haslem scores 24 points in his final regular season game, as his 20-year career with the Miami Heat draws to an end. <a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/magic-heat-haslem-finale-f8e560c77aa5c36a20dbb12ebb58fca5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">At 42, he&rsquo;s nearly two years older</a> than anyone else to have scored at least 24 points in an NBA game.

Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press revisits the notable moments from the 2022-23 NBA season.

Season of NBA moments: LeBron, Lillard, Mitchell and more

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; This story would never have been told if Udonis Haslem&rsquo;s mother hadn&rsquo;t moved from Miami to Jacksonville. Or if his stepbrother hadn&rsquo;t been so smart about an airball. Or if Atlanta signed him in 2002. Or if San Antonio did in 2003.
Any of those things happen differently, it all changes. He probably wouldn&rsquo;t be with the Miami Heat right now. Maybe never.
Haslem, the NBA&rsquo;s oldest active player at 42 and a three-time champion, is in the final days with his hometown team. He&rsquo;s the third player to spend a two-decade career with one franchise, joining Dallas&rsquo; Dirk Nowitzki and the Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; Kobe Bryant.
&ldquo;All I&rsquo;ve ever tried to do is take care of my people, take care of my city,&rdquo; Haslem said. &ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s why I can sit down with the mayor and commissioners, or I can sit down with people in the &rsquo;hood, and be comfortable either way. It&rsquo;s because of the sacrifices that I&rsquo;ve made for this city.&rdquo;
Heat President Pat Riley is more succinct.
&ldquo;Udonis is Miami,&rdquo; Riley said.
Haslem was on the NBA&rsquo;s All-Rookie team in 2003-04. He never was an All-Star, never All-NBA, never even a player of the week out of 438 possible chances. The last time he averaged double figures for a season was 2009.
But ask anyone with the Heat, and they insist Haslem &mdash; the team captain who&rsquo;ll have his No. 40 jersey retired next season &mdash; has been vital for two decades.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the poster child of a guy who was average, supposedly, and yet he became great,&rdquo; said Chet Kammerer, who has spent 27 years in Miami&rsquo;s player personnel department. &ldquo;And how did he do that? Hard work. Great spirit. Great attitude. Never &lsquo;can&rsquo;t do this,&rsquo; never &lsquo;can&rsquo;t do that.&rsquo; And the success that we&rsquo;ve had, he&rsquo;s had more of a major contribution over the whole 20 years than people know.&rdquo;
Take the night Miami won its first NBA title in Dallas in 2006. Haslem played with a separated shoulder. He had to guard Nowitzki, the Mavericks&rsquo; best player. Nowitzki didn&rsquo;t have a field goal in the fourth quarter; Miami won 95-92, Haslem had 17 points, 10 rebounds and a good cry afterward.
&ldquo;The champagne got me,&rdquo; he said. Everyone knows otherwise; they were tears.
Other players got headlines that night; Dwyane Wade was Finals MVP, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal won his fourth ring. But without Haslem, there would be no title.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s always had tremendous courage,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;Whatever endeavor, he rises to another level. And you need that. He was for real. He was that kind of man, someone who has tremendous pride being from Miami.&rdquo;
Many Miami kids grow up with football dreams. Haslem was one of them. But when his mother took a job in Jacksonville when he was 9, focus began shifting to basketball. (&ldquo;Football isn&rsquo;t as big there,&rdquo; Haslem said.) When he was around 12, Haslem was on the court with his older stepbrother, Sam Wooten. Haslem shot an airball. Wooten caught the ball and scored.
&ldquo;Nice pass,&rdquo; Wooten said, genuinely. He, and that moment, had tremendous impact on Haslem; Wooten died in 1999 from cancer and Haslem has a &ldquo;R.I.P. Sam&rdquo; tattoo on his neck to pay tribute to his mentor.
Haslem had backboard-breaking dunks as a high school freshman, starred at Miami High, then starred at Florida but struggled with weight and NBA teams passed on drafting him in 2002. Atlanta brought him in for a camp that summer, but signed Ira Newble to its last roster spot instead.
So Haslem played in France, dropping the extra weight by eating only turkey sandwiches. The next summer, he was offered a one-year contract by the Spurs.
&ldquo;We couldn&rsquo;t lose him,&rdquo; Kammerer said.
The Heat offered two years. Haslem signed. He never left. He had multiple chances, often for more money. But he stayed and will remain with the organization in a to-be-determined role; Haslem wants a chance to join the ownership group.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s monumentally important for our organization and our locker room,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;He embodies everything that we believe in. And he has a way, because of the respect level, that he&rsquo;s able to influence and mentor literally every player in the locker room.&rdquo;
There are many stories of Haslem&rsquo;s toughness. He&rsquo;d dislocate fingers in practice and pop them back in like nothing happened. People still talk about his hard foul on Indiana&rsquo;s Tyler Hansbrough in the 2012 playoffs, after the Pacers caused him to get eight stitches the game before and Hansbrough had just sent Wade flying. He often is the one giving impassioned locker-room speeches at halftime, even before Spoelstra gets a chance. The wall outside Miami&rsquo;s locker room is now a tribute to Haslem moments.
He&rsquo;s not Miami&rsquo;s best player. It could be argued nobody has meant more.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nobody else like him,&rdquo; Spoelstra said.

Udonis Haslem — the Heat's captain who’ll have his No. 40 jersey retired next season — has been vital for two decades.

Udonis Haslem, Miami Heat reflect on rare 20-year NBA career

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple-double with 35 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the short-handed Miami Heat 123-115 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory.
Jimmy Butler scored 32 points and Tyler Herro added 24 for the Heat, who had just nine available players. Notable injured Miami players included Kyle Lowry (sore left knee) and Victor Oladipo (sprained right ankle).
Antetokounmpo had his third triple-double of the season and 32nd of his career. The 11 assists matched his season high.
The two-time MVP had 26 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in a&nbsp;victory at Minnesota&nbsp;on Nov. 4. He had 30 points, 21 and 10 assists in an&nbsp;overtime win at Toronto&nbsp;on Jan. 4.
Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s latest triple-double came two nights after he scored 54 points in a 106-105 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. During the Bucks&rsquo; six-game winning streak, Antetokounmpo is averaging 39.4 points, 14.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists.
Khris Middleton added 24 points, Grayson Allen 19, Jrue Holiday 15 and Pat Connaughton 14. The Bucks gained a measure of revenge after losing consecutive games in Miami on Jan. 12 and 14. Antetokounmpo didn&rsquo;t play in either of those games.
Miami&rsquo;s Gabe Vincent had a career-high 28 points in one of the Heat&rsquo;s victories over the Bucks and 27 in the other. Vincent had just seven points Saturday,
The Heat trailed throughout the first half until Herro sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie it at 62l at the break. Miami missed 12 of its first 13 3-point attempts and was just 5 of 20 from beyond the arc, but the Heat stayed close by committing just one first-half turnover.
TIP-INS
Heat: This game represented a homecoming for Herro, who had his jersey retired Friday night at nearby Whitnall High School in Greenfield.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1621706085982932992" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Herro&rsquo;s Heat teammates and coach Erik Spoelstra attended the ceremony.</a>&nbsp;Earlier this season, they attended a similar ceremony when Heat veteran Udonis Haslem got his jersey retired at Miami High. &ldquo;The guys really do care about each other and want to support each other,&rdquo; Spoelstra said before the game. &ldquo;You also love seeing guys back in their old environment. It means a lot to Tyler and his family. He put a lot in to be able to have that kind of career he had in high school He was already thinking about these kinds of things when he was in fifth or sixth grade. Who&rsquo;s thinking about that at that time?&rdquo;
Bucks: Now that they&rsquo;ve finished a four-game homestand, the Bucks are about to begin a demanding stretch of their schedule. They go on a three-game West Coast trip before returning home to face the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics on Feb. 14.
UP NEXT
Heat: Host Indiana on Wednesday night.
Bucks: At Portland on Monday night.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple-double and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the short-handed Miami Heat 123-115 on Saturday night.

Giannis Antetokounmmpo has triple-double; Bucks win 7th straight

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Jimmy Butler took the last free throw of the night, then bent his knees a bit and almost seemed unsure what would happen as the ball made its way to the rim.
Turns out, it was perfect &mdash; and so was Miami on Tuesday night.
The Heat set an NBA record by making all 40 of their free throws, the last of those coming on Butler's three-point play with 12.9 seconds left, and rallied in the final moments to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-111.
Miami topped the 39-for-39 effort by Utah against Portland on Dec. 7, 1982.
&ldquo;It's just a normal Tuesday night for the Miami Heat," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;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."
Here's just some of what happened Tuesday &mdash; the Heat played without six injured players, including four starters; backup Heat center Dewayne Dedmon was ejected after arguing with his own team and smacking a massage gun onto the court during play from the sideline; Miami had a six-point possession in the fourth quarter; and Josh Giddey had a triple-double for the Thunder.
Oh, and the record from the line.
&ldquo;Credit them, first of all, for that," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. &ldquo;That's impressive."
Butler scored 35 points and was 23 for 23 from the line, tying the second-most makes without a miss in NBA history. James Harden made 24 without a miss for Houston on Dec. 3, 2019, and Dirk Nowitzki made 24 without a miss for Dallas in a playoff game against the Thunder on May 17, 2011. Dominique Wilkins also went 23 for 23 in a game in 1992.
&ldquo;We won," Butler said. &ldquo;Complete team effort. I'm proud of my guys."
Max Strus scored 22 points and Victor Oladipo had 19 for Miami. The Heat were without four regular starters &mdash; Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin &mdash; because of injuries.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 26 points for the Thunder. Giddey finished with 18 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, getting the triple-double on an assist setting up Aaron Wiggins&rsquo; dunk for a 111-106 lead with 1:28 left.
Miami scored the final six points.
&ldquo;Whatever it takes to win," Butler said.
Miami led 89-88 going into the fourth, and with Butler on the bench &mdash; he had played the entire third quarter &mdash; the Thunder took advantage. They scored the first six points of the final period, taking their first lead of larger than three points when Tre Mann connected on a jumper with 9:20 left for a 94-89 lead.
But a six-point possession gave Miami the lead back. Oladipo made a steal and Thunder center Eugene Omoruyi was called for a clear-path foul. Oladipo made both free throws, and on the continued Miami possession, Gabe Vincent made a 3-pointer while getting fouled by Mann. Vincent made the free throw, and just like that, a 96-91 deficit was a 97-96 lead.
&ldquo;We always talk about finding a way to win. ... This is a good start to that," Butler said.
TIP-INS
Thunder: Oklahoma City reached the midway point of this season at 18-23. Even without the injured No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren, it's progress &mdash; the Thunder were 15-21 at the midpoint of the 72-game season two years ago, and 14-27 midway through last season. ... Gilgeous-Alexander had 15 of his points in the final 6:26 of the second quarter, after having only two points previously.
Heat: Udonis Haslem was the only available Heat player who didn&rsquo;t get into the game. ... Orlando Robinson started at center for Adebayo, making him the 13th player to start for Miami this season and the 202nd to start a game in team history.
MANY LINEUPS
Oklahoma City used its 20th starting lineup of the season in 41 games. Miami used its 18th in 42 games.
&ldquo;I think there&rsquo;s a hidden benefit to kind of some instability in your rotations and in your lineups,&rdquo; Daigneault said. &ldquo;It forces your own team to become very adaptive and to really not make excuses ... and I think it becomes hard to adjust to.&rdquo;
&nbsp;

The Heat set an NBA record by making all 40 of their free throws and rallied to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-111.

Butler, Heat set NBA free throw record, beat OKC 112-111

MIAMI (AP) — The math wasn't hard. The Miami Heat got a lot of points off turnovers, and nearly went the whole game without giving up any.
It was the difference.
Jimmy Butler scored 27 points, Bam Adebayo added 23 points and 14 rebounds and the Heat moved over .500 by topping the Los Angeles Lakers 112-98 on Wednesday night.
Miami led the Lakers 31-2 in points off turnovers, after forcing 26 while committing only six despite being without point guard Kyle Lowry — who was out for personal reasons.
“Certainly, the ball control was a big positive tonight," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
LeBron James, who led the Lakers with 27 points, couldn't have agreed more — albeit from a different perspective. The turnovers led to a 92-77 discrepancy in field-goal attempts, that number obviously in Miami's favor.
“That's pretty much the game right there," James said.
The Lakers fell to 14-21. It’s the second-worst record for any of James’ teams through 35 games; Cleveland started 11-24 in his rookie season of 2003-04.
“I don’t want to finish my career playing at this level, from a team aspect,” James said. “I want to still be able to compete for championships because I know what I can still bring to any ballclub with the right pieces.”
Tyler Herro had 18 points and nine assists for the Heat (18-17). Caleb Martin scored 13 points and Gabe Vincent added 12 for Miami, which has won six of its last eight.
James, playing on the second night of a back to back, also had nine rebounds and six assists for the Lakers. Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder each had 15 for the Lakers.
The Heat led by 22 points at one point, their third-largest margin of the season and the biggest since Oct. 26.
And the 14-point final margin also represented Miami’s third-largest win of the season, though it didn’t come easily at the end.
The Lakers cut the lead to seven late in the fourth, before Herro connected on a left-wing 3-pointer with 2:01 to restore a double-digit lead. Miami got a stop on the Lakers’ next possession, and on the ensuing Heat trip Butler went down the lane for an easy layup with 1:15 remaining and that sealed the win.
“We kept the lead,” Adebayo said. “That was the biggest thing.”
It was James' final game as a 37-year-old; he turns 38 on Friday. James averaged 30.1 points in games played at 37, by far the most in NBA history. Karl Malone averaged 23.2 at 37; that’s second-best now.
TIP-INS
Lakers: James played in his 1,393rd game, breaking a tie with Tim Duncan for 10th-most in NBA history. Next up is Jason Terry (1,410). ... Westbrook passed Charles Barkley for 28th place on the NBA’s scoring list. Barkley retired with 23,757 points; Westbrook has 23,767. ... Troy Brown Jr. scored 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, 4 of 5 on 3-pointers.
Heat: It was Miami’s 54th and final home game of 2022. The Heat went 35-19 in those and won’t be home again until Jan. 8 against Brooklyn. ... Butler also had five steals and four assists, while shooting 11 for 18.
BACK IN MIAMI
It was the 14th time that James had scored at least 27 points in Miami — his former home — as an opponent. He's had at least that many in seven of eight appearances on the Heat home floor since he left the franchise and returned to Cleveland in 2014.
UD RETIREMENT
Udonis Haslem’s No. 50 jersey was retired by Miami High, his alma mater, on Tuesday night in a ceremony that several Heat players, coaches and staff attended. James offered his former teammate congratulations pregame Wednesday about the honor; both will have their jerseys — No. 40 for Haslem, No. 6 for James — retired eventually by the Heat as well.
UP NEXT
Lakers: At Atlanta on Friday night.
Heat: At Denver on Friday night.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Jimmy Butler scored 27 points, Bam Adebayo added 23 points and the Heat topped the Los Angeles Lakers 112-98.

Heat get past Lakers 112-98, climb over .500 at 18-17

MEXICO CITY (AP) &mdash; Jimmy Butler scored 26 points, Bam Adebayo had 22 points and 13 rebounds and the Miami Heat extended their winning streak to four, beating the San Antonio Spurs 111-101 on Saturday in the first NBA game in Mexico City since 2019. Tyler Herro added 21 points and Duncan Robinson and Max Strauss had 12 each for the Heat. Keldon Johnson scored 22 points for San Antonio. At 9-20, the Spurs are last in the Western Conference.
Miami trailed 84-80 entering the fourth, but a three point-play by Robinson put them ahead 87-86 with 10:31 left. The Heat had a 15-6 run and extended the lead to 103-93 on Adebayo's dunk.
The game was the 31st in Mexico, more than any other country outside of the U.S. and Canada.
Mexican fans packed the glass-clad, $300 million arena that was built in 2012 and hosts the Capitanes team of the G-League.
&ldquo;I believe you are doing the things to maybe house an NBA team here, the travelling, the climate, the food, the culture is great,&rdquo; NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said before the game. &ldquo;Our manifest destiny is to grow outside of the USA, and it makes sense to expand to the south, a very accessible market, there&acute;s no timeline for it, but there&acute;s no doubt that we will continue to consider Mexico (for expansion)&rdquo;.
TIP-INS
Heat: Caleb Martin (left ankle sprain) and Udonis Haslem (right Achilles tendinosis) sat out. &hellip; The Heat played in Mexico for the second time in their history
Spurs: The Spurs have played in seven of the 31 games held in Mexico in the past 30 years. ... Romeo Langford (foot) sat out.
&nbsp;

Jimmy Butler scored 26 points as the Miami Heat beat the San Antonio Spurs 111-101 in the first game in Mexico City since 2019.

Butler, Adebayo lead Heat past Spurs in Mexico City

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Tyler Herro matched the Miami record with 10 3-pointers and scored a career-high 41 points to help the Heat beat the Houston Rockets 111-108 on Thursday night.
A night after making nine 3-pointers and scoring 35 points in a victory at Oklahoma City, Herro became the fourth Heat player to hit 10 3s in a game &mdash; a feat most recently accomplished by Duncan Robinson on Dec. 10, 2019.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t know it was the record until last night when I hit nine, and they said I was one short,&rdquo; Herro said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have any intention of coming in to tie the record, but I was just trying to get 3s up. I think shooting more 3s is helping.&rdquo;
Herro was 10 of 15 from 3-point range and 13 of 20 overall. He also had six rebounds.
&ldquo;The last couple of games, that&rsquo;s been really the scheme against him,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s been open. But regardless, he&rsquo;s too good of a shooter for us to not take 3s off the catch. He has to continue to be assertive in those opportunities. He&rsquo;s just a brilliant shooter. He can do it off the dribble and off the catch.&rdquo;
Jimmy Butler added 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and Caleb Martin had 13 points. Miami has won three straight to improve to 15-15.
Jalen Green led Houston with 22 points on 8-of-21 shooting. Kevin Porter Jr. added 21, Jabari Smith Jr. had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Alperen Sengun finished with 12 points.
Herro had 25 first-half points, carrying the Heat to a 37-point second quarter where they took a 14-point halftime lead.
The Rockets rallied back in the third quarter, cutting Miami&rsquo;s lead to 86-85 entering the fourth.
Porter missed a 3 in the closing seconds that would have tied it.
&ldquo;Any shot I put up, I feel like I can make,&rdquo; Porter said. &ldquo;Personally, I would have liked it in the flow of that rebound on that last stop, but we had to play against a set defense, and Miami is good when they get a chance to set their defense up. It was a tough shot I can make. I missed it.&rdquo;
Porter was referencing a timeout that Rockets coach Stephen Silas called when the team was in transition following a rebound with less than 15 seconds remaining. There were 12.7 seconds remaining for the Rockets&rsquo; final possession where Porter&rsquo;s attempt to tie the game rimmed out.
&ldquo;It was definitely encouraging to give the fight that we did at the end of the game,&rdquo; Silas said. &ldquo;Our late-game defense has been really good. But the way the first half went, where there were 50-50 balls and hustle plays that we weren&rsquo;t getting, that&rsquo;s not us.&rdquo;
Miami was playing without Bam Adebayo, who was dealing with a left ankle sprain. The Heat also were missing Kyle Lowry (rest), Dewayne Dedmon (left foot plantar fasciitis), Nikola Jovic (back spasms) and Victor Oladipo (left knee injury management).
Miami&rsquo;s pregame injury report also mentioned Butler, who missed the last game for right knee management, Herro, Robinson, Martin and Max Strus for various injuries, but those five played in the game.
TIP-INS
Heat: Spoelstra received a technical in the second quarter after yelling at the officials. Udonis Haslem and Strus later received technical fouls in the third quarter for talking to officials. &hellip; Rookie Orlando Robinson had nine points off the bench.
Rockets: Coach Stephen Silas received a technical in the third quarter after yelling at the officials. &hellip; The Rockets outrebounded the Heat 50-40, thanks in part to Smith&rsquo;s and Usman Garuba&rsquo;s eight in 20 minutes off the bench.
&nbsp;

Tyler Herro matched the Miami record with 10 3-pointers and scored a career-high 41 points to help the Heat beat the Rockets 111-108.

Herro hits 10 3s, scores career-high 41 points for Heat

BOSTON (AP) &mdash; Jayson Tatum had eight 3-pointers and scored a season-high 49 points, and the Boston Celtics held off the hot-shooting Miami Heat for a 134-121 victory on Wednesday night.
It was the All-Star&rsquo;s third 40-point game this season as he continues to pace the league&rsquo;s top-rated offense and make an early case for MVP consideration in his sixth NBA season.
Boston, which shot 55% (46 for 83) has won five straight and 14 of its last 15.
Tatum scored the Celtics&rsquo; first six points and had 41 points after three quarters, using his entire offensive repertoire, scoring from the outside and slashing to the basket. He finished 15 of 25 from the field, 8 of 12 from 3-point range and 11 of 12 from the line. He also grabbed 11 rebounds.
Jaylen Brown finished with 26 points following a one-game absence due to neck stiffness. Malcolm Brogdon added 21 points, connecting on five of Boston&rsquo;s 22 3-pointers in the game.
Max Strus finished with 23 points and five 3-pointers for the Heat. Bam Adebayo also added 23 points before being ejected in the closing seconds following a pair of technical fouls.
Miami, which shot 52% (47 for 90) overall, was 18 of 40 from beyond the arc.
The Heat were again without star Jimmy Butler, sidelined for a seventh straight game with a sore right knee.
After falling into an early hole and trailing 68-60 at the half, Miami kept pace thanks, in part, to five 3-pointers and 19 points in the third quarter from Strus.
Boston took a 102-96 lead into the fourth, but Miami didn&rsquo;t let up and closed within 118-115 on a layup by Highsmith with just over five minutes to play.
The Celtics got some breathing room with a 13-6 run, capped by Tatum&rsquo;s eighth 3 of the game that made it 131-121.
The Celtics hit their first five shots of the game, jumping out to 14-2 advantage. It grew as high as 20-6 before Miami responded with a 21-5 run to take their first lead of the night, 27-25.
CLOSE TO DEBUT
Celtics big man Robert Williams in getting close to making his season debut.
Williams is working his way back into playing shape and could be available to play &ldquo;soon,&rdquo; interim coach Joe Mazzulla said before the game.
&ldquo;Progression has been just continuing to get him stronger, which he&rsquo;s doing a great job at,&rdquo; Mazzulla said. &ldquo;Then, mentally, making sure he feels comfortable.&rdquo;
Williams has yet to play this season after undergoing surgery in late September on the left knee that caused him to miss time during Boston&rsquo;s NBA Finals run last season.
TIP-INS
Heat: C Dewayne Dedmon sat with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. &hellip; Udonis Haslem saw action for just the third time this season. The 42-year-old logged nine-plus minutes going 0 for 2 from the field with one rebound.
Celtics: Have won 10 straight at home. ... It was Tatum&rsquo;s 14th career regular-season game with at least 40 points.

Jayson Tatum scored a season-high 49 points, and the Boston Celtics held off the hot-shooting Miami Heat for a 134-121 victory.

Tatum scores 49, Celtics hold off hot-shooting Heat 134-121

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Miami-Dade County has asked a federal bankruptcy court for immediate permission to end its naming rights deal with FTX and strip that brand off the arena where the NBA's Miami Heat play.
In a motion filed Tuesday, the county &mdash; which owns the arena and negotiated the naming rights deal with FTX &mdash; said continuing to refer to the building as FTX Arena will only add to the &ldquo;enduring hardships&rdquo; brought on by the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange.
&ldquo;It does not appear that the Debtor will suffer harm from a termination of the Naming Rights Agreement," the county wrote in its motion. &ldquo;On the other hand, Miami-Dade County continues to supply valuable marquee naming rights and other benefits to the Debtor, to the detriment of the County&rsquo;s ability to seek a new naming partner for the Arena."
A hearing is set for mid-December. For now, FTX signage remains on the building and its name has not been changed.
Tuesday's motion was hardly unexpected. FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, and the county and the Heat began the process of terminating their relationship with the company that same day.
The FTX collapse has no shortage of ties to the sports world. A number of athletes &mdash; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, tennis player Naomi Osaka and Heat forward Udonis Haslem among them &mdash; <a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-technology-sports-celebrity-business-24690dec0c1541a911f4d201e568ebee">were named as defendants last week</a> in a class-action lawsuit against FTX. The suit argues that their celebrity status made them culpable for promoting the firm&rsquo;s failed business model.
FTX entered into a number of other sports-related deals, including with Mercedes for Formula One racing and a sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball &mdash; whose umpires wore the company&rsquo;s logo this past season. Mercedes has already taken the FTX logo off its race cars.
The building in Miami had been called FTX Arena since June 2021, and a 19-year, $135 million sponsorship agreement between FTX and the county was just getting started. FTX's next payment due to the county is $5.5 million on Jan. 1.
The Heat were to receive $2 million annually as part of the deal.
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-financial-crisis-a729281a5ef02a03ab3fcd95e152c2a8">FTX was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange,</a> though it ended up with billions of dollars worth of losses before seeking bankruptcy protection. The Bahamas-based company and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, are under investigation by state and federal authorities for allegedly investing depositors' funds in ventures without their approval.

A hearing is set for mid-December. For now, FTX signage remains on the building and its name has not been changed.