MIAMI – The Miami Heat shrugged off the absence of star forward Jimmy Butler to crush the Chicago Bulls 112-91 in their play-in eliminator on April 19, and earn a clash with Eastern Conference top seeds Boston Celtics in the first round of the National Basketball Association (NBA) play-offs.
In the Western Conference, the New Orleans Pelicans, also missing their injured key man Zion Williamson, beat the Sacramento Kings 105-98 to set up a first-round series with No. 1 seeds Oklahoma City Thunder.
It is the second straight season that Miami – last season’s NBA Finals runners-up – have earned the eighth-seed spot via the play-in tournament and they will play the Celtics for the fourth time in the last five post-seasons.
Butler suffered a sprained MCL knee ligament in the defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers on April 17 and faces several weeks out. The 34-year-old has led the Heat to two NBA Finals – last campaign’s run included an Eastern Conference Finals win over the Celtics.
Point guard Tyler Herro was the main man of the night with 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and said he had set out to emulate Butler’s all-round contribution for Miami.
“There are a lot of people who try to determine the outcome of a game by how many points someone scores and I think Jimmy Butler does the opposite of that,” he said.
“He impacts the game in so many different ways, sharing the ball, making the right plays for his teammates, and I tried to be as much as I could of Jimmy tonight, just trying to make the right play, give my guys shots and not force anything.
“Obviously it was a great team win for us overall, I’m just excited to be back in the play-offs.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who was also without injured point guard Terry Rozier, had insisted that his team had the personnel to cope with the loss of their talisman Butler and they illustrated that in a convincing home win.
Herro was well supported by rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. and veteran Kevin Love.
Jaquez put up 21 points with six rebounds and six assists, while Love, coming off the bench, made 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
The Celtics, however, will start as strong favourites, having notched a league-high 64 wins this season.
In the absence of Williamson, Brandon Ingram stepped up for the Pelicans, producing 24 points, six rebounds and six assists as New Orleans took command.
“We knew how important today was,” he said. “It has been two years since we’ve been back in the play-offs and now we get another chance to continue to fight.” AFP
