Bam back, Butler gets triple-double, Heat top Raps
Global News
MIAMI (AP) — The final rebound of the game fell into Jimmy Butler's hands just a moment or two before the final buzzer, and Bam Adebayo started celebrating for two reasons.
MIAMI (AP) — The final rebound of the game fell into Jimmy Butler’s hands just a moment or two before the final buzzer, and Bam Adebayo started celebrating for two reasons.
One, he knew Butler had just gotten a triple-double.
Two, the Miami Heat had just won his comeback game.
Tyler Herro scored 23 points, Adebayo scored 14 in his first game coming off a six-week absence following thumb surgery and the Miami Heat held off the Toronto Raptors 104-99 on Monday night.
“We’re just blessed to have a team like this,” Adebayo said. “Everybody buys in. Everybody wants to compete. And everybody wants to get the job done.”
Adebayo played 32 minutes, shooting 4 for 12 and grabbing nine rebounds.
“You can see his energy out there,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after his team pulled into a virtual tie with Chicago for first in the Eastern Conference. “He makes us different.”
Butler finished with 19 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds — the last of those coming as time was expiring, when Fred VanVleet’s 3-point try missed. It was Butler’s ninth triple-double with the Heat, tying LeBron James for the most in team regular-season history.
