Jimmy Butler was one shot away from propelling the Miami Heat to the NBA Finals. After it went a few inches short and the buzzer sounded on the final result, a 100-96 Boston Celtics win, he went straight to his biggest series rival in Jayson Tatum.

Butler shared an emotional embrace with his Celtics rival after seven grueling battles that went down to the very last minute of play. He also had some parting words for JT as he now shifts his attention to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors:

“Always, my dawg. That's your title dawg,” the Heat star told Tatum.

The respect between the two Eastern Conference studs goes without question. Jimmy Butler played like a man worthy of making the NBA Finals himself, scoring 35 huge points in the deciding Game 7 just after willing it into existence with a 47-point masterpiece in Game 6.

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But Jayson Tatum and the Celtics proved to be too much for Miami. They have two dynamic playmakers in Tatum and Jaylen Brown, with Marcus Smart and Al Horford anchoring the defense that pestered Butler's supporting cast all series long.

After getting through the one-man show that was Jimmy Butler, Boston faces a much greater challenge in the thee-time champion Warriors in the Stephen Curry era.