MILWAUKEE — The Knicks might be facing a well-recognized foe and a well-recognized star within the second round of the NBA playoffs
Jimmy Butler scored 42 points and the Miami Heat staged a second straight stunning fourth-quarter rally before winning 128-126 in extra time on Wednesday night in Game 5 to finish an upset of the top-seeded Bucks of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.
Two nights after outscoring the Bucks 30-13 in the ultimate six minutes of a 119-115 victory in Miami, the Heat produced one other huge comeback and tied the sport on Butler’s layup with half a second left in regulation.
Miami went on to change into the sixth No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed. The last time it happened was in 2012, when a Philadelphia 76ers team featuring current Bucks guard Jrue Holiday capitalized on Derrick Rose’s knee injury to beat the top-seeded Chicago Bulls.
The Heat advanced to a second-round series with the fifth-seeded Recent York Knicks, who accomplished their 4-1 series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier Wednesday.
Game 1 is Sunday at 1 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.
Bam Adebayo put the Heat ahead for good by dunking in a putback of Butler’s missed driving layup attempt with 4:44 left in extra time. The Bucks trailed 128-126 and had the ball within the closing seconds, however the clock ran out before Grayson Allen could take a shot as he drove to the basket.
Adebayo had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Gabe Vincent added 22 points.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 38 points and 20 rebounds for the Bucks, though he shot just 10 of 23 on free-throw attempts. Khris Middleton added 33 points.
Milwaukee led 102-86 after three quarters but shot just 5 of 25 from the ground within the fourth quarter and extra time.
The Heat tied the sport on two occasions late within the fourth quarter before Middleton made two free throws to place Milwaukee back ahead with 27.8 seconds left.
Then things really got interesting.
After calling a timeout, the Heat got the ball to Butler, whose 3-point attempt missed with 18 seconds left. Holiday made two free throws with 14 seconds remaining to make it a four-point game, but Vincent’s 3-pointer cut the lead to at least one with 8.4 seconds left.
The Bucks had the ball within the backcourt when Holiday threw an errant pass that eluded Middleton. Miami’s Kyle Lowry initially was called for a foul as he chased the loose ball, however the Heat successfully challenged the decision and it was ruled a jump ball.
Brook Lopez tipped the ball to Antetokounmpo, whose pass nearly went out of bounds before Middleton saved it to Holiday. After getting fouled with 2.1 seconds left, Holiday missed his first free throw before sinking the second to make it 118-116.
After the Heat called timeout, Vincent stood in front of the Bucks bench and threw an inbounds pass to Butler, who was waiting under the basket to make the tying rating.
