Pat Riley is in his usual place entering the offseason. If there’s a way to make the Miami Heat better, he’s all ears.
The Heat president raved Monday about what his team was able to do this season, earning the No.
MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler followed up one amazing performance with another.
It just wasn't enough for the Miami Heat.
The last shot of Butler's season was a 3-pointer that missed — and in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, that's the way most of the shots from deep went for the Heat.
BOSTON (AP) — Kyle Lowry listened politely while Jimmy Butler shared the credit for Miami’s Game 6 victory until his fellow All-Star took the humility too far and called his 47-point, elimination-avoiding performance “decent.”
MIAMI (AP) — The Boston Celtics know the formula. They believe their defense, as has been the case time and again in these playoffs, will eventually wear down teams.
Hard to argue.
Jaylen Brown scored 25 points, Jayson Tatum added 22 and the Celtics are now one win from the NBA Finals.
BOSTON (AP) — Celtics point guard and Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart was ruled out for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against Miami, joining Heat guard Tyler Herro on the sidelines for Monday night's game.
BOSTON (AP) — The Heat were embarrassed in Game 2, surrendering home-court advantage in their blowout loss to the Celtics in their Eastern Conference finals matchup.
Miami returned the favor in Game 3, building a 26-point first-half lead en route to hanging on for a 109-103 victory despite star Jimmy Butler sitting out the second half with swelling in his right knee.
BOSTON (AP) — Still angry over a blowout loss in Miami that cost them home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference finals, the Heat jumped to a 26-point first-half lead over the Boston Celtics in Game 3.
BOSTON (AP) — The Miami Heat played the entire second half without their top scorer. The Boston Celtics lost two of their top players, who both returned to do their best Willis Reed impersonations.
BOSTON (AP) — Bam Adebayo scored 31 points with 10 rebounds for the Miami Heat, who blew a 25-point, first-half lead and lost Jimmy Butler to a knee injury but held on to beat the Boston Celtics 109-103 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Saturday night.
MIAMI (AP) — His team was down by 10 in the opening minutes, and Boston coach Ime Udoka was making no effort to hide his level of disappointment.
MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler doesn’t like being a called a scorer.
Never mind that the moniker seems appropriate. He’s averaging nearly 30 points per game in this postseason, has reached the 40-point mark three times in his last 10 games after having zero such regular season games since 2017, and carried the Miami Heat over the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
MIAMI (AP) — His team was down by eight at halftime, and Miami coach Erik Spoelstra went into the locker room ready to deliver a big speech.
Turns out, one wasn't needed.
Jimmy Butler decided to let his play do the talking.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jimmy Butler knocked Joel Embiid out of the playoffs, then walked over to his former 76ers teammate and hugged him, told him he loved him and was proud of him.
Butler then headed out of a familiar court a winner — and straight into another conference finals with Miami.
MIAMI (AP) — Shots fell again for the Miami Heat. They kept Joel Embiid and James Harden in check. Their coach got an in-game massage from DJ Khaled.
Yes, really.
It was that sort of night for the Heat, who — even without everyone getting shoulder rubs — are feeling pretty good about their playoff prospects again.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joel Embiid inspired Philadelphia with his return from a facial injury, Danny Green and Tyrese Maxey each scored 21 points and the 76ers beat the Miami Heat 99-79 on Friday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
MIAMI (AP) — Bam Adebayo caught a lob for an alley-oop dunk midway through the fourth quarter, then threw a lob to Jimmy Butler for another dunk about a minute later.
Both were very easy.
Joel Embiid could complicate those plays going forward — and the Miami Heat are heading north expecting that he might be waiting for them.
MIAMI (AP) — The NBA fined two Miami Heat players and the team itself a total of $55,000 on Thursday, over two incidents in the team's series-clinching win earlier this week against the Atlanta Hawks.
MIAMI (AP) — It was about a year ago. Victor Oladipo was sitting alone in a dark room. The realization that he needed a second surgery on his right leg was settling in. Frustration, fear, sadness and anger just came pouring out of him.
MIAMI (AP) — If one play could tell the story of a five-game series, consider this one: Trae Young's final shot from the field was a corner 3-point try that he rushed because he knew a defender was coming his way.
ATLANTA (AP) — Miami used team defense to smother Atlanta's Trae Young and then leaned on Jimmy Butler to take the scoring lead.
Butler scored 13 of his 36 points in a dominant second quarter and the Heat beat the Hawks 110-86 while again shutting down Young on Sunday night to take a 3-1 series lead.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Chris Paul scored 19 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter and the Phoenix Suns overcame Devin Booker’s absence to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 114-111 on Friday night in Game 3 of the first-round series.
ATLANTA (AP) — Trae Young struggled in the first two games of the playoffs.
Didn't really matter.
With Game 3 on the line and the season hanging in the balance, the Atlanta Hawks wanted the ball in his hands.
MIAMI (AP) — These are Jimmy Butler’s three highest-scoring games in a Miami uniform: 40 points against Milwaukee, 40 points against the Los Angeles Lakers, 45 points against Atlanta. And those efforts have quite a bit in common.
MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler walked off the floor when his night's work was complete, lifted his arms in the air and heard a sold-out arena serenade him with screams.
That didn't happen in the bubble two years ago, since nobody was there.
MIAMI (AP) — Duncan Robinson couldn't miss shots. Trae Young couldn't make shots.
In simplest terms, that's how Game 1 went for Miami and Atlanta.
Robinson came off the bench to set a franchise playoff record with eight 3-pointers, and the top-seeded Heat forced Young into matching the worst-shooting game of his career on the way to a 115-91 win over the eighth-seeded Hawks in the opener of an Eastern Conference first-round series Sunday.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Most of the Miami Heat didn't show up for Sunday night for the season finale against the Orlando Magic.
Victor Oladipo did, scoring 40 points in what turned into a 3-point shooting contest in a 125-111 loss to the Magic.
MIAMI (AP) — Bam Adebayo made the go-ahead dunk with 27 seconds remaining and scored 24 points in the Miami Heat’s 113-109 comeback victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
Jimmy Butler added 20 points, Kyle Lowry finished with 16 points and Tyler Herro had 15 for the Heat.
MIAMI (AP) — Tyler Herro scored 35 points off the bench and the Miami Heat moved closer to clinching the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs with a 144-115 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night.
CHICAGO (AP) — The Miami Heat appear to be back on steady ground after stumbling through a season-high four straight losses. Their grip on the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference is tightening, too.
BOSTON (AP) — Jimmy Butler scored 24 points, Kyle Lowry added 23 and the Miami Heat rallied in the fourth quarter to hold off the Boston Celtics 106-98 on Wednesday night to stay atop a tight race for the Eastern Conference’s top seed.
BOSTON (AP) — An untimely losing streak has left the Miami Heat with some late-season competition for the Eastern Conference’s top seed.
They took a step toward regaining some of the ground they lost recently against one of their chief challengers.
MIAMI (AP) — The worst losing streak of Miami's season is over. Not only that, but the Heat returned to the top of the Eastern Conference.
And now a road trip with massive seeding implications awaits.
MIAMI (AP) — Kevin Durant scored 23 points, Seth Curry added 17 and the Brooklyn Nets overwhelmed Miami 110-95 on Saturday night, sending the Heat to their season-worst fourth consecutive loss.
Andre Drummond had 13 points and 11 rebounds for Brooklyn, which got 11 points from Kyrie Irving — who will play his first home game of the season for the Nets on Sunday — and 10 from Nic Claxton.
MIAMI (AP) — Just when it looked as if the Miami Heat were going to open a little bit of breathing room atop the Eastern Conference, the New York Knicks had other ideas.
And a stunning rally might set the stage for some down-the-stretch chaos.