The Miami Heat took a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Milwaukee Bucks following clutch free throws made by Heat forward Jimmy Butler in what was a crazy finish to a wild Game 2 on Wednesday.
In what was a wild finish, Butler was sent to the line with no time on the clock by Bucks’ superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, which allowed the Heat to walk off with a victory.
“I tried to make it tough for Jimmy,” Antetokounmpo said following the game, according to ESPN’s Eric Woodyard. “The refs said there was contact there. Maybe there was, I’ve got to watch the play. It is what it is. I tried to contest the shot, but they said there was contact there, so I’ve got to watch [the] play.”
“It was an iso, Goran [Dragic] made a helluva pass on the inbound, then just wait for the clock to go out,” Butler said. “A step-back jumper and I got fouled, pushed me in the back. Can’t deny that, and then I knew I had to make one out of two so I ended up, I think I made both of them and we win.”
Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer expressed his disappointment with the call.
“I would say we’re disappointed with the judgment, with the decision, the timing” he said. “It’s a tough job. I have a lot of respect for the officials and the crew tonight. It’s not an easy job, and of course we have our way of seeing things and we’re gonna disagree, but we need to shift our attention to Game 3 and get prepared for that. Understand that that’s the most important thing right now.”
NBA crew chief Marc Davis defended his foul call.
“He must be allowed the space to land and Giannis contacts him with his left hand on his torso and I felt like it affected his balance and did not allow him the space to land in a normal basketball position,” Davis said. “As a result I judged this to be a shooting foul.”
“It’s about us. It’s always gonna be about us. That’s why we practice. That’s why we go through our game plan. That’s why we’ve got to come out and play harder. That’s why we’ve got to make more shots. It’s always gonna be about us,” Antetokounmpo said. “It’s not about what the other team is gonna do. It might be the Miami Heat now, next round might be a different team, next year might be a different team. It’s always gonna be about us. How can we get better? How can we not repeat the same mistakes? How can we not down the stretch make turnovers? How can we create easier shots? It’s always gonna be about us? It’s never gonna be about the other team that we’re playing.”
