Jimmy Butler understands that when it mattered the most, he didn’t show up perfectly for the Miami Heat.
And in the postgame of their painful Game 6 loss against the Boston Celtics, he surely acknowledged his shortcomings.
“If I’m better from jump, we’re not even in this position. Everything that happened tonight, if I didn’t go 5-for-21 and turned the ball over and all of this good stuff, it will be a different story,” Butler said. “I [would have] got on a different hat up here and we’re getting ready to go to the Finals [if I played better].”
Despite leading the Heat in scoring, Butler was abysmal in his efficiency and went passive most of the time down the stretch. He had 24 points, but got a lowly 5-of-21 shooting. Since going up with a commanding 3-0 series deficit against the C’s, he is now just averaging just 22.3 points in an inferior 38.9 percent efficiency.
The Celtics are the fourth team in NBA postseason history to force a Game 7 despite going down 0-3 in a best-of-seven set. With the dramatic weekend victory in courtesy of Derrick White’s clutch putback shot, they will carry all of the momentum going to TD Garden for the do-or-die decisive match on Monday night.
From all of the obstacles they overcame and the grit they’ve displayed throughout the season as an eighth-seeded squad, Butler believes that they have no reason to get contained by pressure as they are on their way for the ultimate moment of their lives to finally book a ticket to the NBA Finals for the fourth and final try.
As the undrafted trio of Caleb Martin (21), Gabe Vincent (15) and Duncan Robinson (13) mostly carried the scoring load of the Heat collectively on the painful Game 6 loss, the star swingman got that massive faith in his troops that they can deliver and get the job done of finally dismantling Boston as a revenge to their last year’s collapse.
“We got some good basketball players on this team, got some good people that work hard and do things the right way and put the first and want to win,” he said. “At the end of the day, that’s all that you can ask for from anybody especially my teammates, and we have a great group. We got some guys that don’t quit, some guys that had a long road to get to this point. So why give up now?
“This is the stage that we’re on. The stage is set. This is where the lights are brightest. My guy’s gonna show up.”
