Jimmy butler stats vs lebron9/2/2023 ![]() ![]() Maybe Miami is still too overmatched if Adebayo can’t get back on the court. The Heat have gone from a lottery team to a conference champion in just one year, mostly because they acquired Butler. He’s been one of the better players in the league ever since, blossoming into the ideal offensive initiator for the modern era even as he bounced between three hapless franchises in the Bulls, Timberwolves, and 76ers before finding the home he was always looking for in Miami. Butler always kept working on his game, one day showing up in Chicago saying he was a point guard. After his third year, the team low-balled him on an early contract extension and eventually had to pay him a max deal. In his second year, the Bulls were just hoping he could replace Ronnie Brewer as the backup small forward. 30 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.īutler barely played at all as a rookie. After a year of junior college ball, Butler transferred to Marquette, eventually became an All- Big East player, and did enough to be selected by the Bulls with the No. While LeBron was a teenage prodigy who was already hanging out with Jay-Z and gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school junior, Butler was a completely off-the-radar recruit who couldn’t even get a DI scholarship. Jimmy Butler straight up told LeBron "You're in trouble" /daBI9bV5OI- gifdsports October 5, 2020īutler was never supposed to do this, not against LeBron in the NBA Finals without his two best teammates, not ever. There have been better NBA Finals performances than the one Butler had in Game 3 against the Lakers, but not many. This was Butler in all of his glory, grinding his way to the free throw line (he made 12-of-14 attempts), flashing the passing chops he worked so hard to develop, and holding together the Heat’s defense even in their diminished state. Butler finished with 40 points, 13 assists, and 11 rebounds, dominating a game in which he didn’t even attempt a three-point shot. The Heat pulled out a shocking 115-104 win in Game 3 of the NBA Finals because Butler played what has to be the best game of his illustrious career. Mostly everyone assumed Miami was about to be swept. Suddenly Butler was without arguably his two best teammates and beginning the series in an 0-2 hole. ![]() ![]() He was always going to need to be at his best for the Heat to have a shot against James and the Lakers this year, and his burden became even bigger when Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic were injured in Game 1. The Cavs would win a tough six-game series that turned on James’ incredible buzzer-beater in Game 4, but not before Butler held him significantly below his typical scoring efficiency.Īt this point in his career, Butler is over moral victories. Two years later, Butler was a newly minted All-Star running up against James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. In his second season, Butler lined up against James and the Heat in a second round playoff series, averaging more than 44 minutes per night as Chicago lost a five-game slugfest. He spent his formative years as a ironman wing for the Chicago Bulls with the assignment of slowing down James at the peak of his powers. “If you want to win, you’re going to have to go through a LeBron James-led team.”īutler knows it as well as anyone. “It’s been like this for a very long time,” Butler said. Before the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers tipped off the 2020 NBA Finals, Jimmy Butler offered an honest and reflective assessment about the reality of being an NBA player chasing a championship for the last 17 seasons. ![]()
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