Apr 30, 2023 - 21:21
By cbc.ca

Butler posts double-double as Heat keep rolling with Game 1 win over Knicks

Gabe Vincent scored 20 points for the visiting Heat, who became the sixth No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 when they toppled Milwaukee in the first round and continue to look nothing like a team that needed to win a play-in game just to get the final post-season berth in the East.

They averaged 124 points in that series behind Butler's 37.6 per game, but they pulled this one out with old-fashioned defence and rebounding that has always worked so well before for them at this time of year.

Jimmy Butler and Gabe Vincent come up big to help lead Miami to a 1-0 series lead! Butler 25 PTS, 11 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL Vincent: 20 PTS, 5 AST, 5 3PM Game 2: Tuesday, 7:30 PM ET, TNT <a href="https://t.co/3uM8gsIBx8">pic.twitter.com/3uM8gsIBx8</a>

Kyle Lowry scored 18 points for Miami, while Bam Adebayo had 16.

Canada's RJ Barrett scored 26 points and Jalen Brunson had 25 for the fifth-seeded Knicks, who are in the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2013. They started strong and led most of the first half, but the Heat eventually got the Madison Square Garden crowd quieter and quieter as the game went on.

Game 2 is Tuesday night.

They could've used his shooting on a day they went 7 for 34 behind the arc, missing a chance to break open the game early and then hindering any chances of coming back.

The Heat fell behind by 12 points in the second quarter, but that wasn't going to faze a team that eliminated deficits of 15 and then 16 points in the last two games against Milwaukee. They gradually narrowed the deficit before halftime, blew by the Knicks with a 21-5 run in the third quarter and pulled away to a double-digit lead in the fourth.