As the Boston Celtics managed to cling for two more days of season survival with a Game 4 victory against the Miami Heat, Jimmy Butler isn’t worried by the possibility that the momentum will shift against them.
For the star swingman, the Tuesday defeat only serves as a blessing in disguise for them to further improve their craft as they are looking to close out the series and advance to the NBA Finals with the Denver Nuggets sitting in the waiting room.
“No. If anything, it’ll build momentum for us, knowing that we have to play with more energy,” said Butler if he’s worried that the Celtics could have gained momentum after taking Game 4. “We got to play like our backs against the wall, but I think all year long we’ve been better when we do things in a hard way.”
With a halftime score of 56-50, all directions seemed pointing at Heat being on the verge of continuing their marvelous playoff run this year – an eighth-seeded squad set to land themselves to the championship round of the NBA, which hasn’t been done for 24 years.
But the Celtics suddenly increased their sense of urgency and went on to blaze for a sizzling second-half run. Led by Jayson Tatum, they unleashed a barrage of treys and rallied with an 18-0 blitz in the third to stamp a resilient 116-99 triumph at the final buzzer.
The Heat had problems on their shooting, which includes a lowly 25 percent rate from the three-point line. They also tallied 16 turnovers, which turned out to be 26 points for the C’s on one end.
Failing to seize a sweep and a ticket to the Finals, Butler still has that unwavering faith in his team as they will look to finally close it out on Thursday’s Game 5 back in TD Garden.
“One thing I’m going to say is, we’ll be okay. Let’s get back to doing what we’ve always done to get us to this point, continue to have belief in one another, knowing that we’re going to win, and we will,” he added.
“We just got to play harder. There’s not too much to say with this group because we already know. So we just got to go out there and execute.”
