MIAMI – Jimmy Butler suggested beer, wine and defense as means for the Heat to stop the Eastern Conference finals before the series gets any stickier.
“We are going to listen to some music, we’re going to drink some beers back there, I’m going to go have some wine,” he said, sounding as much Buffett as Butler.
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It’s always good to check in with the Miami star after a playoff loss. Butler will either call himself out if he didn’t play particularly well, or project calm and confidence, potentially going so far as to predict a win in the next game.
Butler took Game 3 off from dominating (the Heat won that one by 26 and he didn’t even play in the fourth quarter), and also from talking to reporters postgame – for which he was fined $25,000.
So after he shook off his own slow start, in which he opened the game shooting 3 of 10, with seven misses in a row, to finish with 29 points to lead the Heat in scoring in their 116-99 loss to Boston, Butler broke down what went sideways for his team and how he thinks the Heat can and will fix it.
“I think we let go of the rope on the defensive side of the ball, turned the ball over, didn’t get back in transition,” Butler said. “All of the things we said we were going to go do, we did not, and that was the game.”
Butler said the Heat’s “energy was pretty low” in the third quarter, when the Celtics turned the game on an 18-0 run after trailing by as many as nine, which, “we cannot have, and it’s on myself and the starting group to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
And now, his prediction.
“The only thing I’m going to say is, ‘We’ll be OK,’” Butler said. “Let’s get back to doing what we’ve always done to get us to this point. Continually have belief in one another, knowing that we are going to win, and we will.”
The Heat have run a zone for portions of each game so far in this series, which they still lead, 3-1. The Celtics were the NBA’s second-best team on 3s all season in makes and attempts, but were way below season averages in Games 1 and 2 while Miami seemed to confuse them defensively.
Boston may have been blown out in Game 3, but still took 42 3s in that game (its season average), and on Tuesday shot 18 of 45 from deep. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra has repeatedly said it’s not the scheme that’s been limiting the Celtics, but the effort.
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While Butler said the effort on that side may have been lacking, the Celtics say they are beginning to figure out the scheme.
“The way they play defense, the way they play zone, the way they try to hide matchups, they try to make sure they keep their primary defenders up higher and try to hide their lesser defenders,” Boston’s Jaylen Brown said. “It’s been taking us a little while to kind of figure it out. It ain’t always going to be you scoring the ball normally because they’re not guarding us normally.”
There were other issues. Bam Adebayo took just seven shots – six in the first half – and committed four turnovers in the midst of a clear effort by the opponent to make things more difficult for the Heat inside. Overall, the Heat committed 16 turnovers that led to 27 Boston points, and the offense just looked clunky from almost any angle. Spoelstra said the ball stopped moving, which may have played into a series-worst 8 of 32 from 3-point range.
Butler was at his best in this game while the Heat were at their worst. He scored 15 in the third quarter and 20 in the second half, in which his team was outscored by 23 points. It was the third-worst second half of a playoff game in Miami history.
Butler’s stat line – 29 points, nine rebounds, five assists, on 9-of-21 shooting and 10 of 12 from the line – looks similar to any box score on a night he dominates. This is the 11th time this postseason he’s scored at least 25 points, after averaging just south of 23 points in the regular season.
The last time we’d heard from Butler, after the Heat stole Game 2 in Boston, he was playing Morgan Wallen’s country song “Somebody’s problem” from his phone on the way to the podium. On his way there following Game 4, he was humming the words ‘everything’s gonna be alright‘ to the tune of Alicia Key’s “No One” and otherwise didn’t sound concerned after the Heat’s first loss in this series, and first for the playoffs.
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As he left, he asked the writers in the room to start a petition for him so that the NBA rescinds his fine. Fat chance on that one.
In between his coming and going, Butler sang another familiar tune. “At the end of the day, you fall back on your habits, how consistent you’re going to be,” he said. “Myself and my teammates, we’re going to do the same thing. We’re going to smile. We’re going to be in this thing together like we always are, and we are going to go get one on the road.”
Related reading
Guillory: Celtics have complicated things for Heat. Here’s how
King: How Celtics found their trust in one another
Weiss: Celtics defense finally flips switch after Mazzulla’s surprising timeout
Buckley: Galvanized Celtics bring ‘uphill climb’ back to Boston
(Photo of Jimmy Butler: David Dow / NBAE via Getty Images)
