Another big three-point shooting night, Playoff Jimmy, more takeaways from Heat’s Game 3 win

Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 121-99 blowout win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night as Kaseya Center in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series. The Heat now holds a 2-1 lead in the series, with Game 4 on Monday in Miami (7:30 p.m., TNT and Bally Sports Sun):

After finishing the regular season as one of the NBA’s worst three-point shooting teams, the Heat has opened the playoffs scorching from three-point range.

The Heat won Game 3 behind an efficient 16-of-33 (48.5 percent) effort from beyond the arc.

Through the first three games of the series, the Heat is shooting 47 of 94 (50 percent) from three-point range.

That’s great for any team. But especially for the Heat, which ended the regular season with the NBA’s fourth-worst team three-point percentage at 34.4 percent.

“We’ve been one of the top three point shooting teams since the All-Star break and we’re getting it in a lot of different ways,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Five of the nine Heat players who logged double-digit minutes in Saturday’s win made multiple three-pointers.

Duncan Robinson shot 5 of 6 from three-point range.

Jimmy Butler shot 4 of 4 from three-point range.

Max Strus shot 2 of 4 from three-point range.

Kyle Lowry shot 2 of 5 from three-point range.

Kevin Love shot 2 of 6 from three-point range.

The Heat’s three-point shooting was especially eye-opening in the first half Saturday, making 12 of its 19 (63.2 percent) three-point attempts in the first two quarters to enter halftime ahead by 13. The 12 made threes represented the most in any playoff half in Heat history.

The Bucks were never able to make a big run to get back into the game, pulling within 11 points early in the third quarter but never getting closer than that in the second half.

The Bucks, which closed the regular season with the NBA’s 10th-best team three-point percentage at 36.8 percent, shot 15 of 39 (38.5 percent) from deep in Game 3. Through the first three games, Milwaukee has shot 51 of 133 (38.3 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Heat is the first No. 8 seed to have a lead in a series through at least three games since the eighth-seeded Chicago Bulls held a 2-1 lead over the top-seeded Boston Celtics in 2017. The Celtics rallied to win that first-round series 4-2.

Playoff Jimmy was also a catalyst behind the Heat’s win, but there was a scary moment that forced him to head to the locker room.

Butler was aggressive and assertive at the start, totaling 17 points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal while shooting 6 of 8 from the field, 3 of 3 from three-point range and 2 of 3 from the foul line in the first quarter.

It marked the sixth playoff quarter that Butler has scored 17 or more points in as a member of the Heat. It also marked just the second time that Butler has scored 17 or more points in any first quarter during his NBA career.

Butler continued to dominate to end the night with 30 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals while shooting 12 of 19 from the field and 4 of 4 on threes in only 28 minutes.

It marked Butler’s 14th playoff game with 30 or more points as a member of the Heat. The only players with more such playoff games in Heat history are Dwyane Wade (34) and LeBron James (33).

“It’s a great feeling to have a player like that wearing the same jersey as you,” Robinson said when asked about Butler’s Game 3 display. “He has stretches were he can dominate a game on both ends. His impact is way beyond a box score. He definitely set the tone in the first quarter and we tried to follow suit.”

Butler’s co-star Bam Adebayo finished the Game 3 win with 12 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and two steals in 30 minutes.

But the night did not end without some pain for Butler, who took a hard fall on his butt after going up for a layup that rimmed out with 5:49 left in third quarter. He stayed in the game, but went to the bench with 3:29 left in the third quarter and limped to the locker room.

Butler made his way back to the Heat bench a few minutes later with a big wrap around his lower back. The Heat said Butler was available to return to the game despite a bruised glute, but he never needed to re-enter the contest with the Heat pulling ahead by as many as 29 points in the fourth quarter.

Butler did not talk after the win, but told reporters, “I’m alright,” in the locker room.

The Bucks’ best player Giannis Antetokounmpo is dealing with a similar injury, sustaining a lower back contusion in Game 1 and then missing Games 2 and 3.

When asked prior to Saturday’s game if Antetokounmpo continues to make progress in his recovery, Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer offered a one-word answer of, “Yes.” But Budenholzer did not give a definitive answer on whether Antetokounmpo will be able to return for Game 4 on Monday.

“I think we’ll continue to monitor him through the day tomorrow, through the day the next day,” Budenholzer said. “These things, I don’t think it’s always just this linear thing. He’s not in a place where he can go, so we’ll just continue to monitor him, work with him and hope for the best.”

Along with missing Antetokounmpo, the Bucks remained without reserve guard Wesley Matthews on Saturday because of a strained right calf.

Without Antetokounmpo,, the Bucks were led by Khris Middleton, who finished with a team-high 23 points and six assists.

The Heat was without Tyler Herro (right hand surgery) and Nikola Jovic (back spasms) in Game 3.

But the scariest scene came late in the game when Heat guard Victor Oladipo exited the contest with a knee injury.

On a drive to the basket, Oladipo went to explode up to finish at the rim but his left knee buckled and he came crashing to the court with 3:56 left in the fourth quarter.

Oladipo immediately grabbed his left knee, as Heat teammates, coaches and trainers rushed over to surround him. The stretcher was brought out, but Oladipo was able to limp back to the locker room with the help of Heat trainers.

It was a brutal scene, as Heat teammates were visibly angry and distraught after Oladipo’s latest knee injury. Oladipo has been through two surgeries on the quadriceps tendon in his right knee in the last four-plus years, but Saturday’s injury was to his left knee.

“We don’t know right now,” Spoelstra said of Oladipo’s injury. “We’ll have him checked out tomorrow. I feel how everyone feels. Great win, but when you see a player go down like that — particularly a player like Vic, who has gone through so much. I don’t know what it is right now.”

Oladipo missed the first 24 games of this season with left knee tendinosis.

Oladipo was minutes away from finishing off an impressive Game 3 performance, recording eight points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, two rebounds, one assist and two steals in 19 minutes off the bench for exiting the game.

“I feel like throwing up right now, but I don’t know what the prognosis is,” Spoelstra said.

The Heat received some much-needed contributions from its bench.

The Heat closed the regular season with the sixth-lowest scoring bench in the NBA with 29.8 points per game.

But the Heat’s reserves averaged 41.5 points per game in the first two games of the series and that positive trend continued on Saturday.

The Heat’s bench outscored the Bucks’ reserves 59-28 in Game 3. Those 59 points marked the third-most bench points the Heat has scored in a postseason game in franchise history.

“The second unit put their imprint on the game,” Spoelstra said. “Kyle was vintage. Caleb [Martin] was relentless with his energy. ... The second unit came in with a mindset that they wanted to impact this game. They were inspiring tonight.”

Lowry was not among the reserves who started the playoffs strong, totaling just seven points in the first two games of the series.

But Lowry turned in a bounce-back performance in Game 3, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field and three assists in 28 minutes.

Robinson has been in and out of the rotation throughout the season, but he received extended playing time for the second straight game on Saturday to help fill the three-point shooting void left behind by Herro’s injury.

In Game 2 on Wednesday, Robinson got hot late in the Heat’s lopsided loss. He scored 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range in the fourth quarter of that contest.

Robinson carried that momentum into Game 3, coming off the bench to make three three-pointers during a four-minute stretch in the second quarter. He closed Saturday’s win with 20 points on 5-of-6 shooting from deep on his 29th birthday.

Martin contributed 12 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals in 33 minutes off the bench.

The four primary Heat reserves used in Game 3 were Martin, Lowry, Robinson and Oladipo.

Cody Zeller, Haywood Highsmith, Omer Yurtseven and Udonis Haslem also played on Saturday, but all or most of their playing time came late in the blowout win.

After the Heat’s small starting lineup was exposed in Game 2, Spoelstra made a change to open Game 3 with a bigger frontcourt.

In the wake of Herro’s injury in Game 1, the Heat has used a different starting lineup in each of the first three games of the series.

In the Heat’s Game 2 loss on Wednesday, Robinson started in Herro’s place alongside Gabe Vincent, Strus, Butler and Adebayo. But with the 6-foot-9 Adebayo as the only player in that group standing above 6-foot-7, Bucks center Brook Lopez took advantage to score 24 paint points on 8-of-10 shooting at the rim.

So, Spoelstra adjusted in Game 3 to instead start 6-foot-8 forward Kevin Love in Herro’s place. Robinson moved back to a bench role.

The changes helped to limit the Bucks’ opportunities at the rim, as they closed Game 3 with 16 shots from the area of the court compared to 27 such shots in Game 2.

“We felt this made the most sense to start out a little bit bigger to try to protect the paint, rebound better, impose our will physically a little more,” Spoelstra said. “We were able to get to dynamic lineups through the course of the game.”

The Heat’s new starting lineup that opened Game 3 played just 13 minutes together in the regular season and two minutes through the first two games of the series.

On Saturday, the Vincent-Strus-Butler-Love-Adebayo combination posted a plus/minus of minus-three in 10 minutes together.