Jimmy Butler is the man of the hour in the NBA right now. He silenced his critics by proving that he wasn’t a locker room cancer or toxic teammate and led a promising, hard-working core to the NBA Finals, even against all odds.
Butler was a match made in heaven for the Miami Heat’s winning culture and he proved that you don’t need to be a team’s leading scorer to be their leader and best player. Now, they have a chance to win the 4th ring in the franchise’s 6th Finals appearance.
The task, however, will be far from easy, as the Heat will have to go through LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, something that Butler knew that would happen:
“It’s been like this for a very long time: If you want to win, you’ll have to go through a LeBron James-led team. That’s what it normally comes down to … you’re going to get the same test over and over until you pass it. And that test is LeBron James,” Butler said.
“If you want to win, you are going to have to go through a LeBron James led team.”@JimmyButler on facing the Lakers in the #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/B3HWWJVh8n
— NBA TV (@NBATV) September 28, 2020
The Miami Heat are the ultimate underdog story. No one thought they could get this far, yet they’ve been playing the best basketball since the restart of the season. Now, Butler and the Heat want to finish the job, and he recently posted a message revealing their mindset ahead of the NBA Finals:
“We been underdogs our entire life, everybody up here got a chip on their shoulder,” Butler tweeted, quoting his friend and teammate Bam Adebayo.
we been underdogs our entire life, everybody up here got a chip on their shoulder. – @Bam1of1 pic.twitter.com/5AyYX6HN7x
— Jimmy Butler (@JimmyButler) September 28, 2020
Butler also took it to Twitter to show his appreciation for Dwyane Wade’s shoutout, spreading the love for his former teammate and good friend from his Chicago Bulls’ days:
i appreciate you og https://t.co/WM41gvtvIa
— Jimmy Butler (@JimmyButler) September 28, 2020
Dwyane Wade played a huge part in selling “Heat Culture” to Jimmy Butler when they were teammates, so yeah, even when Wade isn’t wearing their threads, he’s still helping Miami get some Ws.
