Jimmy Butler Put The Heat On His Back Like We Were Back In The Bubble With A Monster 45 Point Performance In A Huge Game 2 Win
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We've seen this Jimmy Butler before. You know the one. The guy who shows up when the lights are brightest as he puts the Miami Heat franchise on his back over the course of 48 minutes. What we just witnessed was as close to the Bubble version of Jimmy Butler as we've had in years and we all remember how ridiculous Bubble Jimmy was
Can he be an asshole at times? Absolutely. It's not easy playing with Jimmy Butler, there's a chance he could even try to fight the head coach, but performances like tonight are why you put up with it. Say what you want about him as a player, but the man elevates his game in the postseason (2021 notwithstanding). So far this postseason he has a 21/6/4/3 performance on 60/50% and then tonight. Erupting for 45 points and shooting at a 60% clip, it was the very definition of dominance
Fernando Medina. Getty Images.This was essentially a give the ball to Jimmy and get the hell out of the way game. As a team, the Heat took a total of 79 FGA, with Butler accounting for 25 of them. No other starter took more than 10 FGA (Strus) and only 3 total Heat players were in double figures in terms of shots. When it came to point production, they had just four players in double figures. It's part of the reason why this was a two point game at halftime. The Hawks came into Miami much more prepared than we saw on Sunday, especially defensively and it showed early. Unfortunately for them, nobody outside of Trae Young could make a shot for the majority of this game. That tends to happen in games where maybe you are exerting more energy on defense. Heading to the break within a possession was progress. Sadly, Butler then came out in the third quarter guns blazing which is what got the Heat that initial separation, and they never looked back. For a guy who shot like shit from three all season long, Butler found a way to go 4-7 from deep. It didn't matter what he did whether it was attacking the rim, shooting midrange, shooting deep, getting to the line, he did it all to the tune of 45/5/5 with 0 TOs in his 39 minutes. If that's not a monster performance I don't know what is.
Butler's ability to put on the cape and throw up performances like this are why you put up with all the drama. I feel like Butler is someone who might be an asshole, but then he goes out and backs it up. When you talk as much as Jimmy does, you also have to walk the walk. Tonight was Example A of what walking the walk looks like.
By the time we flipped to the fourth quarter, things started to get a little wacky. The Hawks who had been mostly quiet offensively all night woke up. Bogdan Bogdanovic started going nuts
and Bogy's explosion got the Hawks to within a possession late in the fourth. It looked like for a moment that the Hawks were about to complete the comeback and steal Game 2 and take a whole bunch of momentum back home to Atlanta. That certainly would have changed the dynamic of this series after what happened in the opener.
But then Jimmy Butler happened. When it came time to close the door, he shut it in a cold blooded fashion. Now up 2-0, the Heat have put themselves in a fantastic position. Remember, they were 24-17 on the road this season which tells you they are more than capable of at least finding a way to split. Especially if they are going to be getting more performances from Bubble Jimmy Butler. That guy is a top 5 player in the league when he can manage to drum up that type of performance.
It's crazy that in Game 1 Duncan Robinson can make 8 3PM and then only play 7 minutes the next night, but it didn't matter. That just goes to show you the Heat depth. It didn't matter that Bam and Lowry were both pretty quiet offensively. Tonight was about Jimmy Butler and the fact that he has proven he can win playoff games by himself. If we're about to get another Bubbly type run from Butler, that for sure changes what the Heat's ceiling might end up being.