Miami Heat vs Los Angeles Lakers Match Player Stats On Oct 09, 2020

Jimmy Butler was exhausted.

However, he had enough in the tank down the stretch to help the Miami Heat avoid elimination with a 111-108 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Friday near Orlando.

"I left it all out there on the floor along with my guys," said Butler, who had 35 points on 11-of-19 shooting, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and five steals in 47-plus minutes. "And that's how we're going to have to play from here on out. ... But this is the position we're in, we like it this way, (and) we've got two more to (win)."

Duncan Robinson scored 26 points, helping the Heat close their deficit in the best-of-seven series to 3-2. Kendrick Nunn chipped in 14 points, Bam Adebayo contributed 13, Tyler Herro had 12 points and Jae Crowder scored 11.

Robinson converted 7 of 13 3-point attempts.

"It's pretty special," Robinson said of the win. "Truthfully, it's incredibly humbling just because I certainly never expected to be here."

LeBron James amassed 40 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and three steals for the Lakers. Anthony Davis finished with 28 points, 12 boards and three blocks, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 16 points.

The Lakers had a chance to clinch the title, but Danny Green missed a wide-open 3-pointer, and then Markieff Morris turned the ball over with 2.2 seconds left.

Herro's two foul shots with 1.6 seconds left put the Heat up by three, and James' desperation half-court heave at the buzzer was off the mark.

"Obviously, it was back and forth, big play after big play," James said of the play late. "Couple of questionable calls that (were) swayed their way, put Jimmy to the free-throw line. Obviously, we can't do that. He's been damn near perfect at the free-throw line this series. We just needed to get one stop. We (felt) like if we could get one stop, we could do something on the offensive end.

"But we got a helluva look to win the game, to win the series. It didn't go down."

Game 6 is set for Sunday, and Game 7, if necessary, would be Tuesday.

Two free throws by James with 2:52 remaining tied the score at 101. Butler's jumper put Miami up by two, but James' three-point play with 1:34 left gave the Lakers a one-point lead.

Butler scored again for a one-point Heat advantage with 1:13 to go, but James' bucket allowed the Lakers to take a 106-105 lead with 58.2 seconds left.

Two foul shots by Butler gave Miami a 107-106 lead with 46.7 seconds remaining, but Los Angeles grabbed a 108-107 edge with 21.8 seconds left on a put-back by Davis.

Butler made two free throws with 16.8 seconds left, giving Miami the lead for good.

"We just got to be better in Game 6 and close the series," James said.

The Heat led 88-82 heading into the fourth quarter.

An 11-3 run in the first three minutes of the second quarter gave Miami a 36-27 advantage after a jumper by Nunn.

The Heat went up 50-39 after another Nunn bucket, but the Lakers rallied with an 8-0 surge to cut the margin to three after a layup by Kyle Kuzma with 2:04 left in the quarter.

Butler's 22 first-half points lifted the Heat to a 60-56 lead at the break. James had 21 points at halftime. He ended the game shooting 15 of 21 from the floor, 6 of 9 from 3-point range.

The Lakers got a scare when Davis went down with a right heel injury with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter. However, he returned in the second quarter.

--Field Level Media