The Miami Heat went 40-for-40 from the free throw line against the Oklahoma City Thunder at FTX arena on Tuesday night, setting an NBA record. Here’s what you need to know:
- Heat forward Jimmy Butler scored with less than 13 seconds on the clock in the fourth quarter to tie the score. He drew a foul and made the final bucket to lift Miami to the 112-111 win.
- Butler’s 23 free throw attempts tied Dominique Wilkins for second-most in NBA history without a miss, trailing only James Harden (24-for-24 on Dec. 3, 2019) for the league single-game mark.
- Butler’s 23 free throw attempts are the most by a Heat player in the regular season since Dwyane Wade made 18 of 24 attempts on Jan. 9, 2009.
- The Heat improved to 21-20 on the season while the Thunder fell to 18-22.
JIMMY BUTLER’S AND-1 WINS THE GAME AND GIVES THE @MiamiHEAT A NEW NBA-RECORD OF 40 FREE THROWS WITHOUT A MISS 🤯 pic.twitter.com/AZMDhUbWf8
— NBA (@NBA) January 11, 2023
Backstory
The Heat have turned things around by going 11-6 in their past 17 games. But this looks nothing like the team we saw plug-and-play its way to the top seed in the East last season. They finished the season 53-29, losing in the conference finals, while ranking 10th in offense and fifth in defense.
This season, they’re barely over .500 for the first half and are looking to find the camaraderie from last season to go on a run that nets them 50 victories this season. But Butler’s performance Tuesday helps. He notched a game-high 35 points, adding seven rebounds and four assists.
Required reading
(Photo: Megan Briggs/Getty)
.