Max Kellerman believes Jimmy Butler's game-tying play was '100% an offensive foul'
Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat made history last night as they became the sixth No. 8 seed in NBA history to send the No. 1 seed home.
Down by just two points with just 2.1 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the Heat's Gabe Vincent threw an alley-oop pass from the sideout. Jimmy Butler managed to get some separation from the Bucks' Pat Connaughton to catch the ball mid-air, put it in the basket and send the game into overtime.
But for all the praise Jimmy Butler is getting for his game-tying bucket, Max Kellerman on ESPN's "Keyshawn, JWill & Max Show" had an interesting stance on it.
"Yeah, it was 100% an offensive foul but okay," Kellerman said.
However, Keyshawn Johnson disagreed with Kellerman's stance as he thought it wasn't an offensive foul since the referee didn't blow a whistle, even if Butler made some contact to create some space between him and Connaughton.
Jimmy Butler on his game-tying bucket
In Game 4, Jimmy Butler was sensational when he dropped 56 points on 19-28 shooting, including 3-8 from 3-point range and even securing nine rebounds. Given how much energy and effort it took to score that many points along with getting the win, no one could have predicted his Game 5 explosion.
With a golden opportunity to finish the series off in Game 5 at Milwaukee, Butler had 42 points on 17-33 shooting, including 3-10 from 3-point range, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.
The Heat star got going in the fourth quarter as he had 14 points on 60.0% shooting to put immense pressure on the Bucks after coming back from a 16-point deficit.
After the game, Butler gave a rundown on what his mindset was in executing the final play to send the game into overtime.
"You could just tell the entire series that Jrue wasn't taking a body off me," Butler said. "He wasn't going to shoot the gap. He wasn't going to do any of that. So I said, 'I guarantee you that when I turn this corner, he's going to be lock-and-trail, he's going to be behind me.' ... [Spoelstra] trusted me in that moment, like he has done multiple times."
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had a different play in mind, but when Butler made eye-contact with Spoelstra during the timeout, the previous play was scrapped.
With Jimmy Butler's Miami Heat winning the series 4-1, they advanced to the semifinals round where they will face Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks.