Jimmy Butler has done a masterful job of leading the Miami Heat to the NBA Finals for the second time in four seasons after they beat the Boston Celtics in seven games.
Being a part of Heat culture isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it almost seems like Butler was born to play for the team. He is the perfect man to lead the Heat and his comments after Game 7 showed that yet again.
“The guys that coach Spo (Erik Spoelstra) and coach Pat (Riley) put together when a guy goes down, the next guy could fill in that gap and do exactly what that guy that went down did and do it at a high level,” Butler said. “And then, be humble enough to know that when that guy comes back, you got to take a step back and get back in your role and nobody ever complains. They always do exactly what you ask of them to do which is why you want to play with guys like that, which is why they’re the reason that we win so many games. I don’t call them role players, I call them teammates because your role can change on any given day… We got some hoopers, we got some real deal basketball players that can score, can defend, can pass, and can win games for us.”
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There has been a lot of talk about Butler leading a bunch of role players in these playoffs but he doesn’t see it that way. He gives them the belief that they are much more than that with the trust that he puts in them and they have repaid it tenfold.
The likes of Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent have had spectacular games in these playoffs and while Butler is the top dog, they wouldn’t be heading to the Finals if those guys hadn’t stepped up.
It Will Take A Total Team Effort To Beat The Nuggets
While Butler took home Eastern Conference Finals MVP honors, by averaging 24.7 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 6.1 APG, and 2.6 SPG, he got a lot of help in this series from his teammates. Martin averaged 19.3 PPG while Vincent was at 15.8 PPG as the Heat had five players average double-digits in scoring over the seven games.
It is going to take a team effort along those lines if they are to beat the Denver Nuggets in the Finals. The Nuggets have been incredibly consistent in these playoffs and have shown that one or two individuals playing out of their minds aren’t going to be enough to beat them.
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