After beginning the season 2-5, many doubted whether the Miami Heat can still be the same old contenders of yore. And to make matters even more concering, the Heat entered Tuesday night slated to face Stephen Curry and the defending champion Golden State Warriors, which put them at real risk of slipping to 2-6. Not if Jimmy Butler has anything to say about the matter, however.

The Heat ended up taking the game over the Warriors, 116-109, in front of their home crowd at FTX Arena. Butler dropped 23 points on 6-17 shooting, none bigger than the dagger midranger he hit along the left elbow over Klay Thompson, who bit on Butler's initial pump fake, to put the Heat up by five with 9.5 seconds left in the game.

Butler has made a living off of carrying the Heat on his back in recent seasons, and this is yet another instance of the 33-year old forward taking matters into his own hands and willing the Heat to victory. And of course, Heat fans expressed their love for their do-it-all talisman.

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Jimmy Butler has always been one of the most confident players in the NBA. It's what gotten him this far in his career as the 30th overall selection back in the 2011 NBA Draft. While there's no doubt that many scoffed at Butler's earlier expletive-laden suggestion that the Heat are still championship contenders in spite of their slow start, the six-time All-Star backed up his big talk with a big shot, proving him worthy of calling his shot.

Some Heat fans were also overjoyed by the song that reverberated throughout the arena after the Warriors called timeout to figure out how to proceed following Butler's dagger. Farruko's hit single “Pepas” played, co-opted by the Heat as the anthem they play when they put the game out of reach, just as Butler did. They started blasting the catchy song during the 2021-22 regular season, and it got the team so hyped up that it now became entrenched in their victory ritual. (Just don't peruse the song's lyrics.)

It's hard to get too excited over a regular season victory in early November, but Jimmy Butler and the Heat have every right to celebrate as they pile on the Warriors' misery. The Warriors have now lost three straight games, and now it's the Heat's turn to ask: when will the media start to be as concerned with Stephen Curry and the reigning champs as they have been with the Heat?