AP - Jimmy Butler had the game of his life, and the Miami Heat had a comeback for the ages. Butler scored 56 points — tying the fourth-best scoring performance ever in an NBA playoff game — and the Heat roared back from 14 points down in the final quarter to stun the Milwaukee Bucks 119-114 on Monday night to put the NBA's top overall seed on the brink of early elimination. The 56 points also became Butler’s career high, as well as a franchise playoff record. And the 14-point fourth-quarter comeback became Miami's biggest of the season, at the absolute biggest time.
It is a statistically improbable story: The No. 8 seed now leads the No. 1 seed 3-1, something that has only happened four other times since the NBA went to the 16-team playoff format in 1984.
But Butler has willed them there. He was 19 for 28 from the field, 15 of 18 from the foul line and added nine rebounds.