The eastern conference is becoming a hell of a battleground for its playoff hopefuls.
Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat continued their winning ways at home with an exciting victory over the Indiana Pacers.
Every quarter in the game was close, with neither team outscoring the other by more than five points in any period.
It came down to the wire, but the Heat won because they showed that they just wanted it more.
They got their winning bucket off veteran Goran Dragic, who made the shot after a wild sequence.
After inbounding the ball with 30.8 seconds left, the Heat missed two shots but got two critical offensive rebounds from Butler and Bam Adebayo.
Those boards led to Dragic making the bucket with 6.8 seconds left. Indiana still had a chance to win, though, but Aaron Holiday missed a floater with a second left.
The win upped Miami’s record to 23-8 (14-1 at home) and kept them at 3rd in the suddenly scary eastern conference. The Pacers dropped to 6th place with a 21-11 record.
If the standings stay the same until the end of the season, this could be a mouth-watering first round matchup. The teams both have a good mix of vets and intriguing young talent and they work their tails off in every game.
The offensive production was spread evenly for the Heat, and they’re really looking like a team that’s gelling together under the leadership of Butler – one of the hardest working players in the league.
You can see how similarly spread out production was on both teams by looking at their top four players of the game:
Miami
Jimmy Butler (20 PTS, 9 REB, 6 AST)
Duncan Robinson (18 PTS, 3 REB, 2 AST)
Bam Adebayo (18 PTS, 15 REB, 6 AST)
Kendrick Nunn (17 PTS, 4 REB, 4 AST)
Indiana
T.J. Warren (16 PTS, 4 REB, 4 AST)
Myles Turner (13 PTS, 6 REB, 1 AST)
Aaron Holiday (17 PTS, 3 REB, 9 AST)
Jeremy Lamb (16 PTS, 4 REB, 1 AST)
If Victor Oladipo is able to come back in full force by the time the playoffs roll by, the Pacers are going to be a tough out for anyone.
Oh, and not that anyone cares, but those Miami Vice jerseys are fire.
