Ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Jimmy Butler has revealed how he and his teammates feel entering this game after a blowout 116-98 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first game of the series. The Heat have been overlooked throughout the whole season and this time it’s no different. However, they are facing the Lakers now, not a team from the Eastern Conference so the job will be even harder to carry out.
Talking with reporters on Thursday, Butler made it clear that his team gets inspired when they are in these situations, with their backs against the wall. Jimmy explained that when facing adversity, the Heat take their game to the next level.
“You’re talking about adversity,” Butler said, via Michael Write of NBA.com. “For us, we thrive in that. If you look at it, everybody thought they were going to do that to us anyway. They probably think they’re going to do it to us three more times in a row. I beg to differ. Nobody picked us to be here. We embrace it. We love it. We know that we can win; we do. But we know we’ve got to play perfect, man. So, coming into Game 2, all the adversity, backs against the wall, yadda, yadda, yadda, we’re gonna win.”
This is a big challenge for the Heat, the biggest one they’ll face this season and as they learned in Game 1, things won’t come easy for them. Butler has tried to keep his team focus on the goal, become NBA champions.
“They say when it’s bad – when it rains, it pours,” Butler said. “All in all, we’re still expected to win. We got here for a reason. We realize we belong. But we also realize how well we have to play on both ends of the floor to give ourselves a chance to win. I’ve always said ‘next man up’ when a man goes down, and right now we’re definitely going to have to do that. But I think it’s tough to lose. Your mind is moving at 1,000 miles per hour, obviously you’re not sleeping. But it’s just because we all care. We all want to win. We all want to be champions.”
Game 2 will take place tonight, with the Lakers hoping to increase their advantage while the Heat will try to tie the series. It’s unclear if Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic will see any minutes tonight. If they don’t, the climb will become even higher for the Floridians.
