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Jimmy Butler nearly rallied the Miami Heat to an improbable victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. Butler’s three free throws, off an Al Horford foul, gave the Heat a 103-102 lead with three seconds left in the game.
Before “Jimmy Buckets” nailed the all-important shots, basketball fans were wondering if the referees missed a huge call before the Horford foul.
Per NBA rules:
“A player who has already completed their dribble and puts both hands on the ball but doesn’t control it, accidentally drops or fumbles the ball, it touches the floor and the player regains control of it by picking it up. This is perfectly legal and no violation has occurred."
Based on that, Jimmy Butler committed no violation. The NBA's last two-minute report also confirmed the same thing.
Had one of the referees called a double-dribble violation on Butler, the Miami Heat’s season could have been over before Derrick White’s heroics. Instead, the game was pushed to the utmost limit until White’s shot with 0.01 second gave the Boston Celtics the win.
With a little over three minutes left in the fourth quarter, Boston built a 10-point lead against Miami. It looked almost certain that the series was headed to a winner-take-all Game 7 at the TD Garden. The Heat, however, refused to go down easily.
Despite having a terrible shooting night, Jimmy Butler nearly willed the Miami Heat to the NBA Finals. He scored 11 of the Heat’s last 13 points to give Miami its last lead of the game.
The Heat should collectively move on from the gut-wrenching loss. They can’t dwell on that and hope to beat the Celtics on the road. Boston’s home floor will be loud and rowdy in trying to boost its team back into the championship round against the Denver Nuggets.
Game 7 will be on Monday to determine the Eastern Conference champions.
Did the referees call it right by giving Jimmy Butler three free throws?
Game 6 is in the books, but the debate about whether Jimmy Butler should have been given three free throws continues. The foul on Horford was called with 2.1 seconds left in the game as Butler went up for the shot.
Upon replay, the referees added .09 seconds on the clock, which was the cause of the controversy. If the foul was committed with 3.0 seconds, Butler wasn’t in the shooting motion yet. If there had been a foul, he would have been given only two free throws.
The 0.9 seconds that were added were literally game-changing. Had there been just 2.1 seconds, Derrick White’s shot would have been half a second late and Miami goes to the NBA Finals.
Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat also lost to the Boston Celtics in Game 7 in last year's conference finals. He vowed after that loss that he would finish the job. Miami will have one last chance to do just that on Monday.
