NBA Tar Heels Update: Heat Take Game 3 of NBA Finals 115-104

Danny Green has struggled to find his shot the last two games.

The Heat took Game 3 of the NBA Finals 115-104 on Sunday night to put some pressure on the Lakers. The series now stands at 2-1 in favor of Los Angeles.

With the Heat once again missing 40 percent of their starting lineup due to injury (Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic), the series looked to be effectively over. The shorthanded Heat would almost certainly lose for a third straight game; all but sealing their fate to be the NBA runners-up.

But Jimmy Butler had other plans. The eight-year veteran out of Marquette notched his first career playoff triple-double, totaling 45 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists. Only two other players in NBA history have recorded a 40+ point triple-double: Jerry West (1969) and LeBron James (2015). Any time you can be mentioned in the NBA record books with those two men, you have placed yourself in rarified air.

Jimmy Butler had an all-time performance tonight 🔥 pic.twitter.com/SKfhS47XAo

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 5, 2020

With Adebayo and Dragic out for Games 2 and 3, rookie Tyler Herro and Meyers Leonard (who didn’t even play in Game) entered the starting lineup.

Tar Heel Danny Green had a strong start to the series, but struggled shooting the ball in Games 2 and 3.

In Game 1, he logged 30 minutes, had 11 points, was 4-for-9 from the field (including 3-for-8 on threes), had four rebounds, one assist, two steals, and three blocks, good for a +21 +/- behind only Anthony Davis’s +23.

In the two games since, Green has shot 1-for-14 (1-for-12 from three), scoring just five points and posting a +4 and -15 respectively in Games 2 and 3. To be fair, the entire starting lineup registered a minus in Game 3.

Green is striving to become the fifth Tar Heel alum to win three or more NBA Championships. 

Do we have a series now? Can Butler continue to carry the Heat on his back? Or will LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the rest of the Lakers prove to be too much for the upstart team from Miami? Will Dragic or Adebayo return to provide a spark in the rest of the series?

According to @EliasSports Jimmy Butler scored or assisted on 73 points, tied for the 2nd-most in an NBA Finals game in league history. (Walt Frazier, 74)

Butler is the first player with a 40-point Finals game without attempting a three since Shaquille O'Neal in 2002. pic.twitter.com/mPcQpFrOtU

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 5, 2020

Tune into Game 4 on Tuesday night, October 6 at 9:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. CT on ABC to find out.

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