The Miami Heat became the sixth 8-seed in NBA history to knock out a 1-seed on Wednesday night. Miami walked into Milwaukee with a chance to take down the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference, and despite the Bucks taking a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter, the Heat were able to scratch and claw their way back into the game, force overtime, and win in the extra period, 128-126.
The shot to force overtime — a bucket by Jimmy Butler that went through the hoop with 0.5 seconds remaining — was impressive, but basketball fans were confused about what happened after. Milwaukee had a timeout left, but instead of calling it and advancing the ball up the court, Jrue Holiday stood there for a few seconds looking for someone to get open for heave. The ball got to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who didn’t get a shot up.
Apparently, Heat players were just as surprised by all of this. Max Strus went onto “The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz” on Thursday and revealed that Erik Spoelstra was baffled that Milwaukee didn’t call anything. Not only that, but Miami’s players on the court just assumed the Bucks didn’t have one since they didn’t attempt to call one.
"Honestly, we were all questioning it…Spo came into the huddle and he was like 'they didn't call a timeout, what are they doing?'" – Max Strus on what it felt like as the Heat realized Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer wasn't going to call a timeout at the end of regulation. pic.twitter.com/8UTH7UbUrm
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) April 27, 2023
“Honestly, we were all questioning it,” Strus said. “At the end of regular time, Spo came in the huddle, he was like, ‘They didn’t call a timeout? What’re we doing? They didn’t call a timeout!’ And we were like, we didn’t even know they had a timeout, we just figured they didn’t, the guys on the court. But year, we were all kind of questioning what was going on, but thankfully, they didn’t use it.”
It wasn’t the only example of Milwaukee getting burned by a decision to not call a timeout. On the final possession of overtime with the Heat up by two, the Bucks decided to push off of Gabe Vincent miss. Unfortunately for them, Miami was able to get back on defense, so the team passed it around until Grayson Allen got the ball and dribbled out the clock without getting a shot up, all while Milwaukee had two timeouts.
