The Miami Heat defeated the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night at State Farm Arena 110-86 to take a 3-1 series lead.

Leading Miami to the win was 2021 NBA steals leader forward Jimmy Butler. The 32-year-old helped the team to assert their dominance in the second quarter after trailing after the first.

The Hawks’ offense in the first quarter was led by forward De’Andre Hunter who had 11 points, which eventually resulted in a 26-25 lead for Atlanta.

Butler was indeed aggressive and demonstrated dominant play early on. He made 13 out of 36 points in the second quarter to help propel Miami to a 55-41 lead entering the second half.

The six-time NBA All-Star walked out racking up a team-high 36 points, four assists, and 10 rebounds.

“Everybody is in my ear about staying aggressive, taking more shots,” Butler said. “Tonight was a good one. We’ve got another one we’ve got to get.”

Alongside fellow forward P.J. Tucker and center Bam Adebayo, the trio advance to the front line in the second half and applied enough pressure that the Hawks were not able to recover. Both Tucker and Adebayo each made 14 points.

Perhaps too aggressive, Butler was called out for a technical foul in the third quarter after he bumped Atlanta forward Onyeka Okongwu.

Proceeding all the way to the fourth, Miami seamlessly seized victory having only six turnovers, 40 for 92 field goals, and 13 for 42 three-pointers.

“They’re doing a great job of showing help and not letting me get to the paint,” Atlanta guard Trae Young who only made nine points and sang high praise for Miami’s play. “You’ve got to give them credit. We’ve got to do a better job of figuring out how to get open looks so I can create for my teammates and myself, too.”