On April 20, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, ushering in a focus battle, the Heat at home to meet the Hawks. The Heat had previously led 1-0, while the Hawks had no way back and had to go all out to win. But from the course of the game, the Heat's overall defense was too strong, Trae Young's scoring ability was suppressed, coupled with Butler's complete outbreak to cut 40+, in the end, the Heat once again beat the Hawks, the big score 2-0 lead, one foot has entered the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Heat began to build a huge lead in the third quarter, hitting a 31-22 score in the single quarter. The Heat only needed this quarter to win, and although by the fourth quarter, the Hawks were 29-28, performing better than the Heat in the single quarter, but they were powerless to return to the sky. The Heat are the best team in the league to play team basketball, and what's even more frightening is that Butler will erupt as long as it reaches the playoffs, and if the Heat finally win the championship, don't be surprised.
In this game, the Hawks' Trae Young and Pogdan both scored at least 25 points, but the Heat's Butler alone had 45 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, and only two of the starters scored in double figures, Strus scored 14 points, and Adebayor and Lowry did not play like this, scoring 9 points. The Heat still have a 10-point victory, and you can imagine how terrible this team is.
The Heat's soul is Butler, who has injected energy into this team. Butler has never been soft in the playoffs, and this time it is the same, as long as it reaches the playoffs. Just today, Butler also set a record for the first in Heat history, and James played with the Heat for 4 years and did not do it.
According to statistics, Butler played 39 minutes in this game, scoring 45 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 0 turnovers on 15-of-25 shooting, becoming the first player in the history of the Heat to score at least 45 points in the game and zero turnovers, including regular season and playoff statistics. Butler has only played for the Heat for 3 years since joining the Heat in 2019, and already has a first record in his own team history.
Moreover, Butler also became the first person in history, according to statistics, Butler cut 45 + 5 + 5, and 0 fouls and 0 mistakes in the whole game, is the first star in NBA history to achieve this achievement in the playoffs. It's not a problem for NBA players to score 40 points in a game, but it's valuable to have no mistakes and fouls at the same time. Although Butler had a similar performance in the Finals, this game, probably the best of Butler's career, was flawless.
The Heat's Spoo coach was thrilled and praised Butler. "It's an elite-level combination of attack and defense, he's shown his ability at both ends of the board, he's very confident and decisive, and we need him to play like that."
The 76ers in the East are also leading 2-0, the Heat are likely to meet the 76ers in the second round, Butler is so tough, it looks like Embiid and Harden are going to be in trouble, and it is likely to stop in the semifinals.