On April 18, Beijing time, the NBA play-offs ushered in the Eastern Showdown. In the top half of the matchup, the Heat lost 104-105 to the 76ers on the road, and they will have to play in the second round of the play-in tournament against the winner of the Hawks and Bulls.
The reason why the Heat lost today is that the star Butler is one of the sinners. In the whole game, Butler played a total of 40 minutes, and his shooting efficiency was not very high, with 5 of 18 shots, including 2 of 6 three-pointers and 7 of 8 free throws, with a total of 19 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals, with a plus/minus of -1.
In the first quarter of the game, Butler made consecutive steals to complete the dunk and caused fouls to stand on the free throw line several times.
Before the end of the first quarter, there was a thrilling scene on the court, Butler was hit in the knee by a falling Oubre as he pounded the basket, and then he fell to the ground in pain and did not get up. Butler then stood up, insisted on making two free throws, and continued to play.
After entering the second quarter, although Butler shot 0 of 4, he scored consecutive points at the free throw line, and assisted his teammates and completed steals many times, leading the Heat to gradually take the lead. In the third quarter, Butler began to increase his individual shots, but only made 2-of-8 shots, two of which were three-pointers. In the final quarter, the 76ers completed the comeback, but Butler did not step up, he only scored 2 points in the final quarter, and the second half combined for only 3 of 10.
In the play-offs last season, Butler led the Heat to lose one game and then win another, and finally advanced to the playoffs as the 8th in the East, and eliminated the Bucks, Knicks, and Celtics in a row to win the Eastern Conference championship and stage the Black Eight Miracle. Now that Butler has once again led the Heat to a first-game loss in the playoffs, can they pull off another miracle this year?
According to the schedule, the second round of the Heat's play-off games will start on April 20, and the Heat will have home-court advantage.