Through the first 12 minutes, the Heat found itself in an 11-point hole because of snipers misfiring on the perimeter and the Knicks having unrestricted access to the lane.

It appeared as if the Heat’s long-range shooting had reverted to its regular season median of being the fourth worst of 30 teams. Yet, in round one against Milwaukee, Miami was #1 of 16 playoff groups in 3-point efficiency. The guests at Madison Square Garden wouldn’t find its deep touch until the second half, assisting in outscoring the hosts by 12 through the period.

This is why it’s important not to overreact.

On New York’s first possession, Mitchell Robinson flung a weak pass intended for Jalen Brunson on the wing, but Jimmy Butler intercepted it and sped off. Gabe Vincent trailed JB on the right side and hit a catch-and-release trifecta to give the Heat a 5-0 lead.

Vincent was the only visitor to record more than one field goal in the first quarter. Butler didn’t get on the scoreboard until midway through the period. While #22 was in the dunker spot, Kevin Love threw a pass over Josh Hart from the key, and Butler jumped higher, came down, and back up for a left-handed layup.

The Heat’s initial problem was RJ Barrett. He maneuvered to his spots for layups and jumpers, totaling 11 points on five of six shots to start. Aside from Star-J’s scoring, Miami had to contend with his ball distribution on rim attacks. He registered three dimes; one while getting iced after turning past a screen and getting doubled, sending the lob up the middle for Robinson to jam; the second and third were connections to Obi Toppin.

The Knicks didn’t miss its All-Star through the first half. In the hour leading to tip-off, the Knicks ruled out Julius Randle and had Toppin start in his place. New York’s third-year forward contributed 12 opening minutes and logged seven points on three of four shots. He slammed two lobs, one on the break, another in the half-court, plus he canned a triple in the left corner.

In the second quarter, the Heat’s offense began to percolate. Butler was rolling to the basket after screens like a big man, converting three shots in the restricted area. Vincent tallied six more points, but three at the line courtesy of Immanuel Quickley swiping at his head on a 3-point attempt.

On the other side, Brunson hit five shots in a row after breaking down Haywood Highsmith, Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin with his dribble.

At halftime, the Heat was down 50-55. New York’s vain hoists from behind the arc didn’t allow it to capitalize on Miami’s powerless artillery strikes. Forty of the Knicks’ points through two quarters were inflicted in the paint, and the Heat’s defensive rating was 117, equal to the 26th worst squad in the category for the regular season.

In the third quarter, Miami’s paint protection and Love’s precise outlet passing swung the pendulum of control to the visitors. It was fitting that on primetime TV, he burned the team that carbonized his old crew. Assuredly, some Cavaliers honcho must have remembered then that every time Love makes the Playoffs, his team goes to the Finals.

Aside from two fastbreak dunks, Butler curled into the paint for a turnaround hook and pulled up on the baseline for two points over Hart in quarter three. Max Strus supplied two long-range bangers when swinging the ball on the wings unfastened New York’s defense.

Entering the last frame, Miami was up six points. Bam Adebayo and Lowry combined for 17 of the Heat’s 27 on the scorecard. #13 demanded the ball when Duncan Robinson beat Quickley and drew the attention of Isaiah Hartenstein for a dunk. Lowry’s deceptive tricks fooled the refs into calling a foul on Quentin Grimes.  It was New York’s third penalty in four minutes.

When “crunch time” started, the Heat’s lead was 95-92. Butler drove to the paint, but upon making contact, Hart flopped into his ankle, rolling it. For a moment, JB lay face down, laboring.

When his vigor was restored, he walked to the line and buried two.

Butler limped up and down the court until there were 23 seconds left. As he performed impaired, the Knicks chose not to attack him and, in the last five minutes, went on a stretch missing seven consecutive tries.

On a three-on-two break, Miami had the numbers as Butler picked up Quickley, the trailing marksman. Barrett barrelled into the lane for a layup, but it was spiked away by Martin to initiate another boat race.

The Heat struck first blood 108-101, but the present concern is Butler’s status. He slogged to the finish line because adrenaline raced through his veins. But he’ll likely need around-the-clock treatment to lower swelling and diminish the pain.

At the postgame presser, coach Erik Spoelstra said he has no idea what is the severity of Butler’s ankle injury.

“I don’t know if we’ll even know more by tomorrow,” Spo said. “We’ll just have to see. It will be a waiting game, but he did not want to come out of the game so we left him in there.”

Game 2 is on Tuesday, so Butler won’t have much time to recover. If he misses work, Adebayo must turn into the focal point without lowering his RPMs on defense.

Monday morning, it was reported that Giannis Antetokounmpo would return to the Bucks’ lineup for Game 4 in Miami. He hurt his back in the first match and was pulled out 11 minutes in, following multiple check-ups in the locker room.

Antetokounmpo picked up where he left off, piercing the lane with zero regard for obstacles. In quarter one, he logged nine points and four assists. During the first timeout, he walked around his team’s space so his back wouldn’t tighten up.

Six minutes into the game, the Heat was down 20-10. Two quick fouls on Bam Adebayo earned him an early spot on the bench. But then Jimmy Butler went nuclear, scoring 22 points in the frame.

Butler was unguardable while defended in single coverage. He entered the paint at will, taking guys off the dribble for a shot past or over them. On his second attempt of the night, JB isolated Khris Middleton for a runway to the cup. Antetokounmpo tracked the drive and met him at the summit, but Butler slammed it with two hands over his head. On the next try, he buried a 25-foot jumper while draped by Middleton on the right wing.

Through the first half, Butler recorded 24 of Miami’s 50 points. The Heat was down 50-57, and aside from #22, no one had broken past single digits on their scorecard. The team’s next-best offensive option was prolific benchwarmer Duncan Robinson and his nine points. Miami’s disregarded sniper canned two triples against drop coverage and splacked another 3-pointer in transition on the left wing.

Twenty seconds into the third quarter, Middleton intercepted Max Strus’ pass to Adebayo in the paint and raced down the court for a step-back left-wing triple over Gabe Vincent. Miami was again on its back foot. Butler stayed in every play of the period to stop the bleeding inflicted by Milwaukee’s front court, plus Jrue Holiday.

The Greek Freak hammered a putback dunk, finished a fastbreak layup, and maneuvered around Cody Zeller in the drop for a layup in quarter three. In this stretch, the visitors converted 32 points on 52.2% field goal efficiency.

JB responded with a step-back jumper over Grayson Allen in the mid-post, a pivot past Holiday and Brook Lopez at the cup, and a pull-up in front of Antetokounmpo in drop coverage for scores in the third. His evening output reached 35 points, and then Coach Erik Spoelstra gave him a breather for nearly four minutes of the fourth quarter.

Milwaukee started the last period ahead by 11 points. The Bucks converted four out of 11 attempts before Butler checked back in for the last time. He finished the game scoring an additional 21 points in the last frame, the most by any Heat player ever in the fourth quarter or overtime in the Playoffs, per Stathead, ending the night with 56.

The Heat was down 12 points in crunch time. Inspired by Butler, Miami went on a 13-0 run to reclaim the lead. Milwaukee took the advantage back twice as the time ticked away, but Butler logged 12 points in the last two minutes, seven of which were free throws. Miami won the game 119-114.

At his post-game sideline interview with TNT, Butler shot down the inquiry of what it felt like to hear MVP chants. He said that honor should go to Joel Embiid. Before stepping away, he answered on going back to Milwaukee for Game 5. “To play basketball in Milwaukee, in front of their crowd, and to be together on the road, that’s where championships are won, and we got a shot.”

JB’s 56 points tied Wilt Chamberlain, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan for the fourth-highest individual scoring output by a player in the postseason. MJ, Elgin Baylor and Donovan Mitchell have the highest playoff game point totals in league history at 63, 61 and 57. Their marks were safe because of Spo’s habitual habit of resting Butler between four and six minutes in closing intervals.

Butler’s Homeric eruption pushed the Heat to a 3-1 lead over the one-seed in round one. Miami still has to win another, but these types of deficits are almost insurmountable. Only 13 outfits have come out alive.

As Bob Seger sang, “Some men go just where they want… some men never go.”

Butler is the former because fortune favors the bold. I’m lucky enough to have seen some of the best that wore White Hot, and in the Playoffs, there’s no right or wrong answer as to who is best fit to lead a squad.

Like Dwyane Wade at this time of year or Batman when Gotham is in danger, Butler raises his game when it matters most. He’s the beast of the east, and he comes out of hibernation in April.

*******

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The Heat’s first wrinkle for the Bucks was to get down the court faster than usual. Miami ended the regular season as the second-slowest team in the NBA, but in Game 1 of the quarterfinal at Milwaukee, the visitors were operating six percentage points higher than their normal pace.

The hit-ahead pass plus instant takeoffs after defensive rebounds generated the Heat eight fastbreak points in the first quarter. Bam Adebayo hurled a full-court pass to Jimmy Butler that was laid in softly a foot away from the rim. Kyle Lowry found the first man on the break twice, outrunning the deer. And Gabe Vincent stumbled to the nail and pulled up for two in transition.

To start, Butler dropped 14 points on six of eight shots to power Miami to a 33-24 lead. He was guarded by Jrue Holiday and Wesley Matthews in single coverage, but it wasn’t enough as JB got into the paint whenever he pleased.

Defensively, Miami was on time contesting 3-point shots, allowing just 2 out of nine makes for Milwaukee through quarter one.

Eight minutes in, Giannis Antetokounmpo hurt his lower back on an unsuccessful drive to the rim. He collided with Kevin Love, picking up the charge foul, but tumbled on his posterior. Toward the end of the period, he plunged into Love again and went to the locker room after getting subbed out for Jae Crowder.

The Freak came back but had to return a second time to Milwaukee’s private chambers, and here, he was ruled out for the rest of the game. In total, he contributed six points and three rebounds.

Antentokounmpo’s absence eliminated the presence of a weak side shot blocker. Brook Lopez didn’t have backup getting attacked in drop coverage, plus Miami’s executed off-ball cuts trailing the handler without the Bucks’ security blanket to disrupt.

In the second frame, Miami mixed man protection with the 2-3 zone. To close off the paint, the Heatles sagged away from the corners and recovered on kick outs to force the Bucks into misfiring on 83.3% of deep tries.

With a minute left in the first half, Tyler Herro poked the ball free from Grayson Allen, but he hurt himself as he missed reaching for it on a dive to the hardwood. He broke his middle and ring fingers on his shooting hand, likely keeping him out between four-to-six weeks per TNT’s Chris Haynes.

When Miami got the ball back, Herro retreated to the corner and crouched, holding his hand in pain. The ball swung to him anyway, yet he air-balled it and swiftly grabbed at his wound again. On Miami’s next possession, he roamed to the corner and put his hands by his knees, the signal he needed medical attention, but the second quarter ended first.

In the first half, Butler had 20 of Miami’s 32 paint points. Additionally, he seized the passing lanes twice and stripped Khrid Middleton to initiate the break.

At halftime, the visitors were up 68-55 while uncommonly blazing from the field at 59.6% and 57.1% outside the 3-point line.

Duncan Robinson started in Herro’s place in the third quarter. Even with #55 having a down season, the Bucks wouldn’t concede much space off-ball. With Robinson on the floor, Milwaukee couldn’t cheat, flashing a corner defender at Adebayo when he got to work at the nail and in. As a result, Adebayo drained three midrange jumpers.

Coming out of halftime, Butler tallied six dimes. He repaid Adebayo with a full-court hit-ahead pass that turned into a two-handed jam and found open teammates when Milwaukee doubled on rim runs or post-ups.

When Antetokounmpo came out in the second quarter, the Bucks’ primary offensive focus shifted to Middleton. Even in front of solid contests, Middleton’s jump shot was on target from midrange and deep. Through three quarters, he had 20 points and had kept the Bucks within striking distance after falling behind by 14.

In the fourth quarter, Vincent was the Heat’s leading scorer with nine points. He made one jumper curling around Adebayo’s dribble handoff on the left wing, another in the corner when the Bucks failed to closeout, and his last shaking Allen away with #13’s screen. He was also the lone Heatle to play the entire period.

Butler added six points and an assist in the final frame to bring his total to 35 on 55.7% field goal efficiency with 11 dimes.

At the postgame presser, Adebayo and Butler answered questions together. I’m unsure if he was puffing smoke, but Butler said the Heat “can be better in a lot of areas.”

Adebayo said the turbulence the team went through to earn a playoff spot prepared them for the challenge present.

It’s unknown when Antetokounmpo will return, but as long as he is out, this encounter has become an even affair. Milwaukee still has weapons and disruptors to win a pair of matches, but home-court advantage will merge to Miami after Game 2.

******

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The Heat held a lead fewer than two minutes. The offense snapped, the guys couldn’t guard by themselves, and Atlanta continued to score on second attempts. At one point in the first half, the deficit Miami found itself in was so degrading that team captain Udonis Haslem was compelled to give a fiery speech to inspire the team during a stoppage. He’d later bowed in disgust as the point differential ballooned in the guests’ favor.

The Hosts were overhelping on the Hawk’s intrusions into the lane, exposing the perimeter. Trae Young tallied five dimes and sullied the Heat’s drops coverage with a pair of floaters to start.

Off Atlanta’s bench, Onyeka Okongwu infiltrated the paint three times for six of its 15 reserve points to Miami’s nine in the first quarter.

The harbinger of gloom was Jimmy Butler’s four missed shots at point-blank range. He managed to log 10 points but on 33% of his tries early.

Bam Adebayo had a donut on the stat sheet until the second quarter. He missed both first-period attempts, but more problematic was that playmakers weren’t looking for him. In one instance, after setting a screen that got Tyler Herro into the paint for a finish, Adebayo stood open on the baseline but with his hands at his side. He was uncovered but not calling for the ball. That might explain a lot.

Butler’s inefficiency trickled down to all but one of his teammates; the 37-year-old with over 38,000 minutes recorded, Kyle Lowry.

Lowry dashed into the lane twice, scoring with a pivot past De’Andre Hunter, plus a reverse layup over Okongwu. Without the quick burst of production provided by #7, Miami likely wouldn’t have broke 20 points to start the match. By halftime, he was the team’s leading scorer with 19 points on six of eight shots.

Running downhill in transition, vintage Lowry spun past Saddiq Bey for a layup. With the 6 ’11 Clint Capela switched on him up top, Kyle canned a step-back jumper from 28 feet out.

At the intermission, the Heat was down 50-65 and only making 37.5% of its attempts. Fortunately for Miami, Butler, and Herro kept the squad on life support in the third quarter. JB was freed on a Gabe Vincent backscreen that opened the baseline for a slam; then he hit a fadeaway jumper over Dejounte Murray and finally a close-range shot when he rolled to the rim after the pick.

Herro dropped a handful of buckets in the third on eight attempts for 11 points. On multiple tries, Atlanta could not stop #14 when driving left after the screen. He used a human shield for space on three scores; the others were a step-back jumper over Young in the post and a lay-in off a cut contested by John Collins.

When the Heat made runs to cut the deficit to single digits, the Hawks countered with body blows of its own. Early in the third period, the hosts erased 10 points off Atlanta’s lead. But the visitors next went on a 20-12 run to extend the advantage back to 13 to start the fourth quarter.

With 12 minutes left in a pre-elimination game that gave direct playoff entry to the winner, Miami had already allowed Atlanta to recover 15 offensive rebounds creating 13 second-chance points.

Lowry and Caleb Martin were the only reserves coach Erik Spoelstra used in the final stretch. With the season on the line, #7 converted four out of five triples and blew past Young on the wing for a three-foot shot. Martin contributed just a rebound and an assist in 11 fourth-quarter minutes.

The Heat’s 2-3 zone and man-to-man coverage left the glass unattended. The Hawks added seven offensive rebounds to its output, pushing the total to 22 for 26 second-chance points.

Atlanta invited Miami back into the game with 10 missed free throws through 36 minutes, but the Heat said thanks but no thanks by losing nearly all of the 50-50 balls.

At the postgame presser, Spo said his team crawled back into the match, but the story was the second chance points given up.

“I thought we defended fairly well, particularly in the last five minutes of the second quarter on through the second half,” Spo said. “We just were not able to come up with those finishing rebounds. It was like a highlight film gone bad of either missed block outs, bobbled balls, tipped balls, or [Atlanta] there, and they were able to come up with the rebound.”

Miami is a solid defensive rebounding team, but after Spo’s group put on one of its most embarrassing performances of the season, he wouldn’t identify what caused the slippage. Like a good soldier, he said they’d watch the film on it.

And just like that, the Heat arrived at DEFCON 4. Its next rival will be determined with the winner of Chicago’s visit to Toronto Wednesday. Each of those squads presents issues for the Heat. The Bulls have two point-of-attack incinerators, and the Raptors have the length to make a duel uglier than what Miami suffered at home Tuesday by clogging the lane.

The level of concern for the Heat shouldn’t change based on the outcome Wednesday. It’s difficult to trust any unit that needs to get humbled before getting its act together, and Miami has looked like a team ready to punch its time card for weeks.

Over a decade of watching the NBA has taught me that when a group gets shamed, it usually responds with a stronger showing. But what is there left to play for? Pride or eighth place? That’s a tough sell. The Heat lost the game it needed as it would have secured a preferred matchup with the Boston Celtics in round one instead of seeing the Milwaukee Bucks, who Miami has few counters for if they win Friday.

This Just In: An APB has been issued to locate Adebayo’s heart. A search party is also being assembled to find Max Strus’ jump shot after shock therapy was opposed.

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“One Shining Moment” is ubiquitous in CBS’s coverage of the NCAA Tournament. The song plays out the tournament, recapping a month of memories, reliving the ups and downs, the humanity of sports.

For Miami’s Athletic Program, shining moments over the past 2 decades have been mere blips on the radar, drowned out by a cacophony of failures, false starts, and dejections. The 2 programs that dominated from the early 80s through the early 2000s, football and baseball, have not sniffed championships.

As March 2023 came around, those dyed in orange and green Canes fans that still stuck around did so more out of a sense of love and obligation versus an actual belief in ultimate victory.

And that sense of doom was only amplified by Norchad Omier’s injury against Duke and the Women’s team being sent to a site where they would have to beat a #1 seed on the road. There was very little indication that both the Men’s and Women’s teams would go on a 3-week journey that would reinvigorate the entire community.

Beautiful Symmetry 

For some reason, I felt the Men’s team was special this year. They have been high seeds before, made Sweet 16s, but this felt more substantive. It’s abnormal for me to just follow the team around, but I made the decision to do just that several months ago. At the time I didn’t know it was going to take me to Albany to Kansas City to Houston. I just knew that I was going where the team went.

The Women’s team was a bit of a different prospect. For those that know me, you’ll know my affinity for that program and Coach Katie Meier. I briefly thought that about the logistics of bouncing back-and-forth between Albany and Bloomington before realizing it wasn’t really feasible.

And I considered going to Bloomington again late in the 2nd half when the Men looked like they were going to lose to Drake. And was happy I didn’t when the Women trailed by 17 to Oklahoma State.

But that is what made this run for both programs so fascinating. There was a symmetry to their paths.

-Men down 8 late in the 2nd half in their first game. Women down 17 at the half. Both won.

-Both then upset Indiana.

-Both then win a Sweet 16 game as the lower seed when no one really gave them a chance.

Miami, of all programs, was the last one with both the Men’s and Women’s team in the Elite Eight.

There were so many moments that will be indelibly etched on the minds of Canes’ fans, perhaps none more so than both teams traveling to the Sweet 16, leaving the Watsco Center, headed to different parts of the country, to carry The U forward.

The Finality of It All

One of the undervalued aspects of a deep tournament run is just how quickly the games run into each other. On any weekend, you have a day between games. No time to bask in victory, on to the next one. There is a constant state of peril. Whatever good you’ve done to get this far is erased when the next game starts.

And also that everyone that makes the NCAA Tournament, with the exception of 1 team, loses their last game. There is no happy ending. The taste of defeat will linger.

That’s how we were treated to the duality of emotions as the Men’s team clinched their first Final Four appearance with the Women’s team being eliminated at the Elite Eight, bloodied and battered, a few hours later.

That is sports, the extreme highs, and the extreme lows. It comes with the irrationality of sports viewing in general. To care so much about something that in the grand scheme of things should be irrelevant but in reality dictates a lot of the human emotional spirit.

It’s why several weeks of joy must necessarily end with Destiny Harden and Jordan Miller embracing their respective coaches, tears in their eyes, having left their schools and their programs in a much better place than they found them.

We watched the Canes collectively go 7-2 over a 3-week period, but the 2 came last, the 2 are remembered. The “what ifs” come into play.

Time Heals All Wounds

The symmetry for the Canes’ teams continued all the way through how they were eliminated, losing to the eventual champions while just not being able to score. Shots that normally fell didn’t. That’s probably the thing that left the most sour taste in the mouth of Canes Family, that they went out not playing their best games.

But as distance grows between the present and those losses, it’s easier to reflect on the journey, on the enormity of the accomplishment.

Miami, at its core, is a city of dreamers. We are enchanted with the what could be, with the conceptual, often at the expense of the reality.

It’s that audacity that has allowed a small, private school in Coral Gables to repeatedly achieve athletic excellence. We’re constantly told we can’t achieve, we don’t belong…and we don’t care.

The problem is that over the last decades, the doubters have been proven right. There is very little to show for the frustrated efforts at ascension to the top of college athletics. Miami has struggled to reclaim past glories.

And that is what the basketball programs collectively have restored. Our sense of pride in being Miami.

We can believe again. Believe in the dream of Miami. It’s no longer a pipe dream, a fanciful tale we tell ourselves to avoid the reality.

The reality is worth embracing.

I remember walking up to the stadium in Houston with a feeling I hadn’t felt in 20 years. Miami was playing in game with National Championship-level stakes.

Miami is back as an entity, as a dream, as a reality.

And we can thank the men and women of Canes basketball for the resurrection.

Vishnu Parasuraman is a journalist for @FiveReasonsSports. He covers the Miami Hurricanes for Sixth Ring Canes and Formula 1 for Hitting the Apex. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003