Jimmy Butler excels as Heat goes 2-0

Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler erupts for 45 points against the Atlanta Hawks on April 19, 2022.

Following another win against the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA playoffs, the Miami Heat are up 2-0 in the series behind Jimmy Butler scoring 45 points.

Since getting swept in the first round of the NBA playoffs by the eventual champions Milwaukee Bucks last season, the Miami Heat was looking to make a statement in this first-round game versus the Hawks.

In the first half of the game, the Heat and Hawks were going neck-to-neck versus each other after Miami had a 15-9 lead with six minutes on the clock.

Both teams were tying the game multiple times from 28-28 to 42-42 in the second quarter.

By the end of the second quarter, Butler got the Heat to a two-point lead following a three-point play with eight seconds at the end of the first half.

The Miami Heat never gave up or tie a lead in the second half with Butler being aggressive by attacking the basket as well as making his shots while making the necessary passes. He also goes after the ball defensively when Butler stole a Trae Young’s pass to Bogdan Bogdanovic.

Along with Butler’s 45-point game, he had five rebounds and assists as well as two steals.

Butler wasn’t the Heat player that contributed to the Heat going 2-0 in the series.

Max Strus (15), Tyler Herro (15), and Gabe Vincent (11) went double-digits in shooting behind the arc from their shoot or Butler’s passes.

As for the Hawks, Young had a better game two days ago scoring 25 points than his game-one performance with only scoring eight points.

Despite his improvement in scoring 25 points, The Hawks’ point guard had 10 turnovers by traveling, bad passes, exceptional defensive plays from the Heat, and going out-of-bounds. Five of those turnovers turned into Heat’s fast-break points.

The Heat will be looking to go up 3-0 as well as sweep the Hawks as the game three will be on Friday, April 22, 2022.

The next series will be interesting to see if the Hawks will answer back with being down 2-0 as the NBA playoffs continue.