Takeaways from Jimmy Butler’s night to remember to lead Heat to 3-1 series lead over Bucks

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 119-114 comeback win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night as Kaseya Center in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series. The eighth-seeded Heat leads the top-seeded Bucks 3-1 in the best-of-7 series, with Game 5 on Wednesday in Milwaukee (9:30 p.m., NBA TV and Bally Sports Sun):

Jimmy Butler turned in arguably the best playoff performance in franchise history to put the Heat one win away from advancing to the second round.

Butler’s incredible night included 56 points on 19-of-28 shooting from the field, 3-of-8 shooting on threes and 15-of-18 shooting from the foul line, nine rebounds and two assists in 41 minutes.

“There’s a brilliance about how he competes at the game of basketball,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Butler. “I think that probably sums it up the best.”

It went down as the highest-scoring playoff game in Heat history, breaking the previous record of 49 points set by LeBron James in Game 4 of a second-round series against the Brooklyn Nets in the 2014 playoffs.

It’s tied for the second-highest scoring performance in Heat history, including the regular season, matching the 56 points Glen Rice scored on April 15, 1995. Only James has scored more points in a game, recording 61 points on March 3, 2014.

It’s the highest-scoring game of Butler’s NBA career, surpassing his previous career-high of 53 points that he scored on Jan. 14, 2016 as a member of the Chicago Bulls.

Butler’s 56 points in Game 4 also tied for the fourth-highest scoring playoff performance in NBA history. Michael Jordan (63 points), Elgin Baylor (61 points) and Donovan Mitchell (57 points) are the only players who have scored more in a playoff game.

“I’m just hooping, playing basketball the right way, taking the shots that the defense gives me, staying aggressive,” Butler said. “A lot of shots went in tonight. But my teammates kept feeding me the ball, telling me to attack. Plays were drawn up for me, they were looking for me in transition. When you got teammates like that, good things happen.”

Butler was sensational from the start, totaling 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 shooting from three-point range and 2-of-4 shooting from the foul line while playing the entire first quarter.

It marked the highest-scoring quarter of Butler’s NBA career, surpassing his previous career-high of 21 points set during a third quarter in the 2015-16 season as a member of the Bulls.

Butler also tied Dwyane Wade for the highest-scoring quarter in Heat playoff history. Wade scored 22 points in a playoff quarter, when he did it against the Washington Wizards during the 2005 playoffs.

Butler scored 13 points between the second and third quarters.

But Butler exploded again in the fourth quarter, entering the game with the Bucks ahead by 11 points with 8:11 to play. He scored 21 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, 1-of-2 shooting on threes and 8-of-9 shooting from the foul line in the period to lead the Heat all the way back for the win.

“He’s just all over the place,” Spoelstra said. “He really is a case study for young players coming into this league of how you can impact winning.”

The Heat closed the game on a 32-16 run after Butler entered in the fourth quarter. Butler, alone, outscored the Bucks 21-16 while playing the final 8:11 of the contest to lead the Heat to the miraculous comeback win.

The Heat’s first lead of the night came at 102-101 with just 3:17 to play. The Bucks led by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter before Butler’s heroics.

Behind Butler’s 56-point display, the Heat’s second-leading scorer was Bam Adebayo with 15 points.

“It just shows you if you have the right grit and perseverance, you can find different ways to win even if it’s ugly and then it always helps to have a guy like Jimmy Butler,” Spoelstra said.

Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo was dominant in his return from injury, but it still wasn’t enough to get past Butler and the Heat.

Antetokounmpo, who missed Games 2 and 3 of the series because of a lower back contusion, scored seven of Milwaukee’s first 10 points.

Antetokounmpo scored his first points of the game on a spinning layup and then made a reverse dunk look easy for his second basket of the night.

Antetokounmpo ended the first quarter with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field, four rebounds and four assists.

By halftime, Antetokounmpo had 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field, seven rebounds ans six assists.

The problem is Antetokounmpo was limited to just three points on 1-of-4 shooting from the field and committed two turnovers in the fourth quarter during the Bucks’ meltdown.

Antetokounmpo finished the loss with a triple-double stat line that included 26 points on 12-of-22 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds, 13 assists and two blocks. He was able to generate a high volume of shots at the rim, finishing 11 of 17 from that area of the court.

“His physicality and ability to get to the rim is otherworldly,” Spoelstra said of Antetokounmpo. “It’s keeping us up all night. He still has a way of breaking your defense down. That’s why he is who he is.”

Bucks center Brook Lopez finished with 36 points on 13-of-23 shooting from the field. It’s the most points Lopez has ever scored in a playoff game.

It was a weird game for Adebayo, but he definitely took a more aggressive approach in the second half.

It was a struggle for Adebayo early on, as he was called for two fouls in the first 3:28 of the game on his way to finishing the first half with just two points on 1-of-4 shooting from the field, four rebounds, one assists and two turnovers. He scored his first points of the game with 7:26 left in the second quarter.

Adebayo took a more aggressive approach to begin the second half, attacking the space given to him by the Bucks’ deep drop defensive scheme to score six points on seven field-goal attempts in the first 4:32 of the third quarter.

After taking just four field-goal attempts in the first half, Adebayo scored 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field in the second half.

Adebayo closed the win with 15 points on 6-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line, eight rebounds and two assists in 30 minutes.

Adebayo shot just 2-of-7 at the rim against the Bucks’ drop coverage with Lopez’s size protecting the paint. But Adebayo shot 3 of 3 on non-paint twos.

“It’s OK that he’s not making shots,” Butler said of Adebayo. “But my goodness whenever his shot does go in, I think everybody’s job is going to be a lot easier. I want that for him, I really do. But I don’t want him to press it. I want him to keep playing winning basketball like he has been doing. But every chance you get, fire that bad baby up at the rim. That’s what I do.”

Adebayo is averaging 16.9 points per game on 48.3 percent shooting from the field in the series. He has 15 assists to 14 turnovers.

Even with injured guards Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo out, the Heat’s depth made an appearance during the fourth-quarter comeback.

The Heat went with a 10-man rotation on Monday that included a bench rotation of Haywood Highsmith, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Cody Zeller and Duncan Robinson.

Lowry played the entire fourth quarter, contributing four points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in the period. With the Heat ahead by three points, Lowry stole the ball from Bucks guard Jrue Holiday with 53 seconds to play to allow Butler to draw a foul on the other end and extend the lead to five points with two free throws.

“Kyle’s toughness and descriptiveness,” Spoelstra said. “I literally have no idea what his stat line was, but I know in the fourth quarter, he had his imprint on so many possessions. Defensively, he was just tough, physical, active hands, speeding guys up and then really helped us get organized on the other end.”

Martin played all but five seconds of the fourth quarter, totaling 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 shooting on threes, five rebounds, one assist and one steal in the period. He hit one of the biggest shots of the game, making a three to give the Heat a one-point lead with 2:43 to play.

“Caleb, you can’t say enough about him,” Spoelstra said.

Also, Robinson ended the night with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from deep in 30 minutes. He’s shooting 13 of 17 (76.5 percent) from three-point range in the series.

Highsmith and Zeller had not played much in the first three games of the series, but both played important minutes in Game 4.

Highsmith scored just three points on 1-of-3 shooting from three-point range in 14 minutes. But he was used as Antetokounmpo’s primary defender at times and he held his own.

Zeller scored two points and grabbed one rebound in seven minutes.

The Heat’s bench outscored the Bucks’ reserves 32-16.

The Heat is on the verge of doing something not many teams have done.

The Heat will have three chances to close out the series. The first opportunity will come Wednesday in Milwaukee.

There’s no doubt the Heat is in good position to become only the sixth No. 8 seed to eliminate a No. 1 seed in the first round of the playoffs since the current 16-team NBA playoff format was instituted for the 1983-84 season.

“The series is still going and we have great respect for the championship DNA that that group has and we know that they’re going to gear up and be ready on [Wednesday],” Spoelstra said of the Bucks.

Entering this year’s playoffs, NBA teams that have led a best-of-7 series 3-1 have gone on to win the series 95.2 percent of the time (258-13).

The last time a No. 8 seed defeated a No. 1 seed in the first round was when the eighth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers eliminated the top-seeded Bulls 4-2 in 2012.