The will to win, sheer physicality–the dogmatic ferocity that spills onto the court–an unmatched intensity that sends a chill down your spine. I haven’t felt like this about a player since Kobe Bryant and now, Jimmy butler has it.
That killer assasin-like mentalilty. The guy that doesn’t sleep–won’t rest until his opponent is 10 feet deep–buried. He and Kobe Bryant are the last two who, I believe, possesses that rare obsessive DNA that just wants to win. And will go to hell and back to do so, if necessary.
And it’s uncanny. I mean, Jimmy is simply uncanny. In his 11-year career, he’s a modest 18-point-per-game scorer. But in the playoffs, he becomes the incarnate of Michael Jordan for multiple games. Like as I’m typing this, I’m shaking my head, thinking about a, now favorite anime of mine, My Hero Academia–it’s as if everyone has cool powers, yeah, yeah, but Jimmy, has the Jordan quirk–and it gets better as the stakes heighten.
He must’ve gone to Michael Jordan’s house and slipped him some BigFace Coffee, then tested the cup to strip it for DNA or something. He literally stole the secret stuff, but the catch is, he only has enough for the playoffs. That’s why he coasts through the regular season and he and the Miami Heat float under the radar until we reach April.
Jimmy Butler this playoffs:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 25, 2023
36.5 PPG
5.5 RPG
5.0 APG
Only MJ and LeBron have averaged 35/5/5 on 50+ FG% in a playoffs… Jimmy is doing it on 62.8 FG%. pic.twitter.com/LY6JAkCdEb
A few things before I dig into this: 1. He’s a Hall of Famer. 2. In any tight-knit game, outside of Steph Curry, I want Jimmy Butler with the ball in his hands.
Game 5 on the road was a revelation. Jimmy played like that older kid at the park that toys with the younger kids, then he gets serious and it’s like a nuclear explosion on the basketball court and there’s nothing anyone can do against it, but hide. Grayson Allen had a play at the top of the key where he lined up to shoot the three. One that seemed wide open for him.
It was a sunny day in Derry, I mean Milwaukee, and then all of a sudden it begins to storm and a terrifying clown, wearing a Miami Heat jersey, comes out of nowhere and snatches his soul. That’s what it had to be like for Grayson when he saw Jimmy come out of nowhere from the left wing and swat his jumper, starting a fastbreak for himself, and finishing it off with a dunk.
He had this other play where he came from behind Lopez’s blind side, poked the ball away, gathered it, ran down the right sideline, drifted to his right, and swished a three-pointer with Jrue Holiday so close he could smell what Jimmy had for breakfast.
He’s a tornado of raging chaos that gives his opponent these devious grins and mischievous smiles after he finishes leaving an opposing offensive possession in ruin or after completely shattering a defense and silencing a crowd in the process.
There are no heroes or happy endings in this story.
In fact, he was taunting them. Even while the Heat trailed, his venom was potent. And no matter how many haymakers the Bucks threw, somehow Jimmy got off the mat and threw a series of his own. He was Jason Voorhees for four quarters–always lurking. He taunts his victims. He literally taunted Jrue Holiday while they were trailing, saying to him, “ON YOUR HEAD!” He’s a psychotic obsessive when the game is on the line.
But think: imagine if All Might was a ruthless villain that just chuckled at his enemies’ punches, stalking his prey endlessly as they run from him. All while understanding that HE CANT AND HE WON’T FREAKING DIE! THAT’S JIMMY BUTLER.
With two seconds left, coming out of the timeout down by two, Gabe Vincent throws a lob to the right side of the rim as Jimmy works through the left side of the lane with Jrue in his pockets. He catches the ball falling away and nails the tip in score. And eventually, helped the Heat to win the game in overtime, becoming only the sixth eighth-seed to knock off the one-seed and the first team to beat their opponent in five games.
Look, he just faced the best team in basketball during the regular season. Yes, Giannis didn’t really play in game 1 and he missed game 2, but this team was 32-9 at home–good for 4th in the NBA–11-8 record without Giannis, sure. Jrue Holiday is an All-NBA defender and Brook Lopez was widely considered a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
And he shot 60 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3-point range, which is impressive given the degree of difficulty. AND HE WAS TELLING THEM ABOUT IT IN REAL TIME, including Jrue Holiday who he treated like food in this series. It’s comical.
Jimmy Butler is the first player in @MiamiHEAT history with back-to-back 40-point Playoff games.
— NBA (@NBA) April 27, 2023
Special. pic.twitter.com/HbMUxIbz7e
The Bucks trounced the Heat in game 2. Jimmy was playing really well in the first 3 games: he went 35,25, and then 30. But it’s important to track, how in game 4 at home, he went up another level.
In game 4, Greek Thanos returns. Bucks win the first quarter 33-28, but Jimmy scores 22 of his team’s 28 points, missing one shot attempt. Dunks on a Giannis contest at the rim, a minute later a triple, and another minute later, he corkscrews around Giannis in the post for two more. Pull up, jab, step back, middy–it was all butter. At the half the Heat trailed by seven, which became 11 after three quarters of play.
But Jimmy wouldn’t go away. He scored the toughest, yet most routine and consistent 21 points in the 4th. Free throw line pull-up J after pull-up J. A triple try down by two with just over a minute left tore the roof off of the Kaseya Center.
He’s a competitor to the bone. He sweats passion and bleeds victory.
“On your head.”
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) April 27, 2023
He was likely pointing to his stats on the jumbotron too.
pic.twitter.com/Wt416zZk7O
I want to drift off into some more stats for a moment. In his four seasons as a member of the Heat, Jimmy Butler has eight 40-point games in the playoffs–that’s more than Dwyane Wade and LeBron James had there. Since 2020, Jimmy Butler has scored the 4th most points in the 4th quarter of the postseason.
He had the fourth-highest single-game scoring playoff game, EVER with 56 points in game 4. And he had 98 points combined in games 4 and 5.
Jeff Teague talks about Jimmy Butler's infamous Timberwolves practice 🤣
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 28, 2023
"When Thibs gets excited, his hands shake. Jimmy walks in and his hands start shaking."
(Via Club520 Podcast/YT)pic.twitter.com/gFShq0D41Z
If the playoffs ended today, Jimmy would have the 5th highest PER of all time in a single post-season. In the first round of these playoffs, Jimmy shot 24 times per game and he made them at a 60 percent clip, which ranks sixth amongst wing players. However, of the qualifying 25 players, only one other attempted over 20 shots and shot it over 50 percent.
Many will say that the legend that Jimmy has become started with the Minnesota Timberwolves’ practice annihilation.
But I think It started in the bubble. 2020 against LeBron and Anthony Davis in the NBA Finals. His first trip there. That’s when everyone was put on notice of the type of competitor Jimmy truly was when the lights were brightest. Games 1 and 2 went LA’s way and Jimmy had a -17 plus/minus for both games combined. But down 0-2, he went into the booth and put on his mask, and pressed play on the horror track for the first time in game 3. Jimmy goes for 40 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists while shooting 70 percent from the field. BANANAS. Heat win the game and he plays 44 minutes.
They lose game 4, but then in game 5, he outdueled LeBron with 35 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, and 5 steals. All while shooting 58 percent from the field and sitting on the bench for 48 seconds. But as with a lot of the perception during that time, some brushed off the bubble. Almost everyone was having offensive outbursts during that time. Shoot T.J. Warren was looking like Diet KD.
In fact, the following year was an embarrassment. A first-round sweep against the Bucks where Bryn Forbes seemingly outplayed Jimmy. The sheen went away. 2020 was an anomaly.
But then, the 2022 postseason comes. And the Heat are in it. In the opening round, Jimmy averaged 30/8/5 on 54/44/79 splits after gentlemen sweeping the Hawks. In the next round against the Sixers, he put up 28/8/5 as he led both teams in points, rebounds (tied with Bam), and steals. All while doing what he seems to do a lot, score efficiently. 51 percent from the field.
Then came the Eastern Conference Finals against the Jayson Tatum-led Boston Celtics.
His excellent 41-point game 1 was a foreshadowing, because down 3-2 on the road against the Celtics. Jimmy put on a masterful performance. Scoring 47 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and four steals to force a game 7. He was a transition pull-up 3 away from going back to the NBA Finals in the 2022 Eastern Conference Playoffs. That close. But it was his determination that even allowed for his team to be in that spot.
Jimmy Butler has evolved immensely. This version of him has been years in the making.
He was the 30th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft. And his first three years in the league, he was primarily a defensive stopper on the wing alongside Loul Deng.
He was a solid role guy for the first three years of his career. Then in 2014, he became an All-Star, averaging 20/6/3 with career highs in field goal (46 percent) and 3-point field goals (38 percent).
Jimmy is now a six-time All-Star, four-time All-NBA, five-time All-Defense, and a Most Improved Player of the Year Award winner. With more awards to come.
The thing is, these playoff moments will be etched in my mind. He’s an all-timer when his teams need him the most. And that’s why I can unequivocally give him my vote of confidence as a Hall of Famer. Only a few can, will, or have accomplished what he has in their careers. And now, he’s shown he can do it over and over again. It’s a microcosm of how I feel about Kobe. He did a lot of things that made your jaw drop and left you speechless at the moment in addition to the accolades.
Jimmy is doing that now. He’s crafting the rest of his story right in front of our eyes and I’m not blinking for a second–he’s special. He is the real deal. And now he’s going to have to do it again. In the Mecca of basketball. Madison Square Garden.
Against a team that has the Heat’s number this year. Jumping the gun for a moment here–but the real question is, can Jimmy do something that would surely cement his status–and that’s to get a most improbable NBA Championship. Leading an 8th-seeded Miami Heat team without its 3rd-best player in Tyler Herro. The lowest seed to win a title was the 1995 Houston Rockets. This would certainly be the most impressive. Oddly enough, the last team to make the finals as an 8th seed was the Knicks.
…somewhere, he’s lurking… and I have a feeling, that clown that was in Milwaukee, is coming to MSG…
