MIAMI – Another 3-pointer was taken away from Max Strus in an elimination game. He and Jimmy Butler made sure it didn’t matter.
The playoffs await.
Strus and Butler – who doubled at times in the final moments and gasped for every breath – scored 31 points each, and the Miami Heat finished the game on a 15-1 run to edge the Chicago Bulls 102-91 in an Eastern Conference to beat Friday night’s play-in game.
“Our team obviously wasn’t perfect this year,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “But I do know one thing about the men in that locker room: over the past 48 hours, I know how categorically, unequivocally, how badly and desperately our group wanted to get in this damn thing — and get into the playoffs to have a chance fight for a title.”
Your reward: the No. 8 East and a first-round matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA’s top overall seeds, starting Sunday.
DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 26 points and nine assists. Alex Caruso added 16 points, Zach Lavine had 15 but shot only 6 for 20, and Coby White scored 14. Chicago grabbed a road win in Toronto on Wednesday to extend its season but failed to get the second road win it had needed the playoffs.
“They’re disappointed,” said Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “If you make this investment from September to mid-April, that’s a lot of time. You reflect back a little. I think they are all disappointed. We’ve gotten better as a group, I think, since the All-Star break. It would have been nice if we could have found a way to win tonight and make the playoffs, but it didn’t happen.”
Tyler Herro added 12 points and Bam Adebayo clinched 17 rebounds for Miami, who were down by six midway through the last quarter.
But Butler scored while fouled with 2:17 left to give Miami a final lead, Strus found for a 3-pointer – his seventh of the night – a minute later to take the lead to five and Strus sealed it with three free throws after being fouled on an attempt from beyond the arc with 40 seconds remaining.
“I don’t think any of us felt any pressure,” Butler said. “We went out, we competed.”
The Heat led by 14 points in the first quarter, held a 10-point lead in the third quarter, and then found themselves six points behind with 7-12 to go.
A 9-3 sprint over the next 2 minutes – Butler had seven, Strus had the other two – brought the Heat into a tie and into all-too-familiar territory. The NBA defines clutch games as those within five points or less in the last 5 minutes, and the Heat played 54 of those league-high during the regular season.
Maybe it prepared her for this moment. White saved a 3-pointer by 3:47 to put the Bulls at 90-87. The result for the rest of the way: Heat 15, Bulls 1.
“Win it or go home,” said Strus, an Illinois native who started his career with the Bulls. “We are not finished yet.”
TIP INS
Bulls: Chicago was a 13-1 combined this season against Miami, Detroit, Portland, Utah and Dallas. … The Bulls were no more than nine behind Miami in any of the three regular-season matchups between the teams. … Nikola Vucevic had 12 points.
Heat: Strus had 14 points in the first quarter, making it the seventh-best scoring effort in each quarter of his career. … This was the 21st Heat team to end a regular season with a winning record; they were 44-38. All 21 made it to the playoffs. … Kyle Lowry was hampered in the second half with a knee problem but told Spoelstra after the game he was fine.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Heat and Bucks shared four games this season, both going 2-0 at home. Butler averaged 22 points per game to lead all players in the season series. Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee both averaged 19.5 and Herro averaged 19.
BILLY AND UDONIS
It was the last time Donovan will share a spot with one of his Florida college players, Heat captain Udonis Haslem, who will retire in Miami at the end of this season. All of Haslem’s NBA and collegiate coaches were at the game, with Erik Spoelstra on the Heat touchline, Pat Riley in the Heat president’s box, Stan Van Gundy broadcasting for TNT, and Donovan leading the Bulls.
“I’m not surprised at the impact he’s had on the community here, and I’m not surprised at the impact he’s had within the organization,” Donovan said. He also praised Haslem for making winning a priority and never leaving the heat despite having offers “for a lot more money” elsewhere.
NEXT
Bulls: Season complete.
Heat: Visit Milwaukee in Game 1 on Sunday.
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