Miami Heat beats Bucks with Butler — and without him — to seize 2-1 playoff series lead | Opinion

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said it late in the regular season and it was hardly a mystery that required a team of detectives to unravel.

“He really reminds me of somebody when he gets in that mode,” Spoelstra had said after a game. “I am not going to say who that is. I did mention it to him. I’ll let you guys figure that out.”

Jimmy Butler acknowledged Spoelstra had likened him to Dwyane Wade.

“It’s like a blessing and a curse because [Wade] is without a doubt one of the greats,” said Butler.

Not sure about the curse part, but the blessing keeps being the Heat’s.

Butler “in that mode” keeps happening. And funny how the NBA playoffs seem to draw it out of him.

To suggest Butler in only his fourth season with Miami is nearing D-Wade territory in franchise esteem is still a stretch.

Less and less so, though, with every game like Saturday night.

Miami held serve at home with a 121-99 Game 3 victory over Milwaukee for a 2-1 lead in this NBA best-of-seven first round series.

Butler’s game-high 30 points and the Heat’s tenacious, arms-flying defense that found its resolve in Game 2’s embarrassment led the way. Kevin Love replaced Duncan Robinson in the starting lineup but it was Robinson off the bench on his 25th birthday with 20 points on 5-for-6 shooting from 3-land.

To cap the night, Udonis Haslem entered for the last couple of minutes.

Ominously, Butler left late in the third quarter and did not return after falling hard on his backside and then tweaking an ankle -- but neither injury is serious. Spoelstra said he could have come back in if needed.

Miami led by 90-75 when Butler left, to palpable apprehension from the home crowd.

But his teammates won from that point without him, 31-24.

The No. 1 seed was again missing superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo with a back ailment. The No. 8 seed remained without offensive spark Tyler Herro after Friday hand surgery.

It’s been the semi-Bucks vs. the sort of-Heat without those two.

Been a matter of who’ll step up for whom.

Enter Butler. Again. He’ll be ready for Game 4. But will Antetokounmpo? Miami also lost Victor Oladipo to a late injury that seemed possibly serious.

“I feel like throwing up right now,” said Spoelstra of Oladipo’s injury. “Great win, but when you see a player go down like that, especially a player like him whose been through so much...”

The brighter side? Butler.

“Great feeling to have a player like that wearing the same jersey,” said Robinson. “He definitely set the tone, and we followed suit.”

There is no Heat equal yet to Wade’s 2006 NBA Finals show, but Butler in the 2020 and ‘22 postseasons was special, and Saturday began that way.

He had 17 points in the first quarter including 3-for-3 on 3-pointers, not his forte’. Twelve of the points came in a late flurry that gave Miami its first lead as the quarter ended on a 14-0 Heat run. It was a one-man takeover.

Game 4 is back home Monday for Miami, then it’s two of the last three games in Milwaukee if the series goes that long. The 2-1 lead gives the No. 8 seed a fighting chance for a seismic series upset. Butler gives the Heat that, too.

Momentum is forever shifting in a lurching ebb and flow in a best-of-seven series -- when every result seems to change everything. Lesser teams can pinch a win but seldom not four across seven games. It is one reason I Iove the postseasons in the NBA and NHL even as the rest of the country seems to swoon for the single elimination format of NCAA Tournament basketball.

You could make an argument every game leading up to a winner-take-all Game 7 is the most important in a series.

The case for Game Saturday night:

In NBA best-of-seven playoff history teams that win Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead after a tied series go on to advance by a 227-69 margin, or 76.7 percent. Miami’s contribution to that total is 14-5 or 73.7 percent advancing.

Again, though, lose Monday for 2-2 heading back to Milwaukee and everything feels different.

This series had been a tough read early: Heat with a stunning Game 1 road win on a Butler-led tour de force. Then Bucks with a Game 2 rout despite Giannis sitting out.

One team was going to make its statement Saturday night.

Could the Bucks continue to win without Antetokounmpo? Could Miami rediscover its defensive mojo and survive without Herro’s offense?

Milwaukee ruled out their best player a little over an hour before tipoff Saturday.

“He’s just not ready to go,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said of Antetokounmpo. “We’ll continue to monitor him and hope for the best.”

Milwaukee is 12-8 without Antetokounmpo this season, including the Game 2 playoff win over the Heat.

Herro had what was called successful surgery on his right hand Friday but would not return until the NBA Finals at earliest.

With Herro gone the onus on Butler has only grown. He keeps answering.

A bit to the north the Florida Panthers are down 2-1 in a like 1-vs.-8 NHL playoff matchup with the vaunted Boston Bruins.

Miami faced that deficit well into the first quarter Saturday before Butler led the turnaround.

Playoff Jimmy’s 2022 postseason for Miami was epic, Wade-ian.

This one had begun “in that mode.”

When Spoelstra says Butler’s ability to rise up in the clutch reminds him of Wade, well, he’s a pretty fair voice of authority on that.

Nobody’s been an eye-witness with a better seat to marvel at them both.