No regrets from Butler after all-or-nothing 3; updating Heat’s longshot odds in NBA Tournament

NEW YORK — With Jimmy Butler there was no doubt before, no regret after. And, just like the Miami Heat, he has moved on.

With a chance to tie Friday night’s game against the New York Knicks with the Heat down two after a missed Jalen Brunson free throw with 11.3 seconds left, Butler did as he so often has in such situations — went for the kill.

With two-tenths of a second to play, his 25-foot stepback 3-pointer was off. Buzzer.

Heat lose, 100-98.

It happened when the Heat lost Game 7 of the 2022 Eastern Conference finals to the Boston Celtics, with Butler off then, as well, with a potential final-ticks 3-point attempt.

And Butler said it well could happen again.

“I definitely thought that was going in,” Butler said, at 3 of 4 on 3-pointers Friday night to that stage.

“I’m always going to go for the win. Myself and everybody else is riding with me. We’re going to live with the result. But I guarantee I’m making the next one.”

Butler’s shot came after the Heat blew a 21-point lead, as well as an 11-point lead with 6:05 to play.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had the option of calling his final timeout before Butler’s shot, advancing the ball to midcourt, setting up a play, possibly for a game-tying two-point attempt.

“I’m good with that,” Spoelstra said of Butler’s shot, with the Heat moving on from Madison Square Garden to Brooklyn for Saturday night’s game against the Nets at Barclays Center at the close of a five-game trip. “I like that scramble situation. If he was missing, that’s what we talked about doing. I thought we tried to set up a few too many times in that fourth quarter, slowed down and it allowed their defense to pack and get us into late-clock situations.

“I wish we would have had a few more of those kinds of possessions, where we got the ball up to Jimmy’s hands in a matter of four or five seconds or whoever’s hands, but way more pace.”

Having been eliminated by the Heat and Butler during the second round of last season’s playoffs, Knicks guard Immanuel Quickley feared the worst.

“I’ve seen that shot go in, not just from him,” he said. “When you play basketball for so long, you see so many game-winners. They all look the same.

“I just said, ‘Please, please don’t go in.’ We worked so hard to get back.”

Knicks forward R.J. Barrett defended Butler on that final play.

“Yeah I knew he was going to go to the step-back,” he said. “Thought he was going to go step-back.”

Even with that miss, Butler went into Saturday at 41% on 3-pointers this season, after shooting 35% from beyond the arc last season and .279 at during his five-season tenure with the Heat. His career best is .381 on low volume during his second season, in 2012-13 with the Chicago Bulls.

Tournament stakes

Friday’s loss was costly to the Heat in the NBA’s In-Season Tournament.

Now, even with a victory Tuesday night over the Milwaukee Bucks at Kaseya Center and a 3-1 finish in pool play, it might not be enough to get them to the East quarterfinals, otherwise eliminated.

If the Heat defeat the Bucks, they would win their pool and advance if the Knicks on Tuesday night lose at home in their pool-play finale to the Charlotte Hornets, who already have been eliminated from advancing.

However, if the Heat and Knicks both win Tuesday, it would leave the Heat, Knicks and Bucks each at 3-1 overall and 1-1 head to head. That, in turn, would trigger the next tiebreaker, point differential in each team’s three-game pool-play schedule.

Entering Tuesday, the Bucks stand at +39, the Knicks at +18 and the Heat at +11.

So should the Knicks win on Tuesday, the Heat not only would have to beat the Bucks, but defeat Milwaukee decisively, overcoming their current 28-point deficit in differential.

The Heat would be eliminated from advancing with a loss to Milwaukee.

All games in the pool-play round also count in the regular-season standings.