On Saturday, December 16 (Sunday, December 17, Manila time), Jimmy Butler led the host Miami Heat to a 118-116 victory over the Chicago Bulls with a stepback jumper over Coby White at the buzzer.

A game-high 28 points were scored by Butler, and 22 points on 6-for-10 three-point shooting were contributed by Kevin Love.

For the Bulls, DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points, while Patrick Williams chipped in with 25. Williams was given a benching 92 seconds into the match after receiving two consecutive fast foul calls. He didn’t score in the first quarter but got hot in the second, scoring 13 points.

White finished with 22 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter, after going scoreless in the first half.

Torrey Craig’s foot injury in the first half prevented him from returning for Chicago, which defeated Miami on Thursday, a major setback. With 16 points on 5-for-7 shooting, including 4 of 5 three-pointers, he topped all first-half scorers.

After Love scored four points in just six minutes off the bench in the first quarter, Miami led 36-24.

Thirteen seconds after Love’s second three-pointer to open the second quarter, Bulls coach Billy Donovan called a timeout.

Chicago trailed 58-57 at halftime despite dominating the remaining minutes despite being down 15 points.

For the remainder of the first half, Love was kept scoreless.

After trailing 3-2 early in the third quarter, the Bulls took a 66-64 lead thanks to two free throws by White.

But Butler put up 13 points in the third, which gave Miami a 91-80 advantage at the end of the quarter. During that time, the Heat went on a 16-2 run.

Butler’s game-winning stroke in the fourth quarter sealed the outcome of a close contest.

Two players for Miami returned after missing time with back issues. Josh Richardson had missed two games, and Haywood Highsmith had missed five. Bam Adebayo (hip) and Tyler Herro (ankle), two heat starters, are still sidelined.