Analysis: As the Celtics left South Beach with a 104-103 miracle, Jimmy Butler and the Heat were left to contemplate how close they now stand to being on the wrong side of history.
, dropping to one knee to mimic Al Horford’s timeout celebration. No reasonable person could have foreseen Boston’s stunning resurrection, but Butler will pay the heaviest price for the collective complacency if the other shoe drops for good. And he knows it.“I told the guys in the locker room that if I play better, we’re not even in this position, honestly speaking,” Butler said after Saturday’s loss. “I will be better. That’s what makes me smile: those guys follow my lead.
Everything has gone wrong for Miami since Game 3 in large part because little has gone well for its franchise player. Butler was outplayed by Jayson Tatum in a Game 4 blowout loss, he was held to 14 points in a Game 5 defeat and he endured his worst shooting night of the 2023 playoffs in the Game 6 heartbreaker. Even worse, his usual confidence waned Saturday, as he passed up open shots and deferred to his teammates. Butler, who’s averaging 39.
Yet the long grind of Butler’s career nearly paid off anyway, as he led Miami’s comeback from a 10-point deficit with less than five minutes remaining. The six-time all-star scored the Heat’s final 10 points, including a three-pointer with 2:04 remaining and three clutch free throws with three seconds left. Butler finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, a gutsy showing that would have barely sufficed if White hadn’t crashed the party at the very last moment.
Butler is a decade removed from his fierce and exhausting battles with LeBron James during the 2013 playoffs. Since that national introduction, he bounced from team to team before landing with the Heat and returning the organization to perennial contention. Miami has made the East finals in three of the last four years, and Butler led the Heat to its first Finals since James’s 2014 departure during the 2020 Bubble.
A new level of acclaim is therefore within reach for Butler if he can conjure a vintage parquet performance to rival his
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