With the Miami Heat's next crucial game against the New Orleans Pelicans Friday night, there will be more attention on the past history between the two teams than the game itself. The last time the Heat and the Pelicans faced off, it was on Feb. 23 where star Jimmy Butler got into a heated altercation that turned physical with Naji Marshall that resulted in both teams having to separate multiple individuals from the scrap.
Tempers are flaring in New Orleans 😳 pic.twitter.com/ngqs1HDJGJ
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) February 24, 2024
Butler along with Nikola Jovic were ejected for one game while Thomas Bryant was hit with a three-game suspension for a separated incident with a New Orleans player. After the Heat beat the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday night, Butler and Bryant were asked about the upcoming matchup that has bas blood attached to it.
For Butler, he toned the noise down on the history though smiling when asked if he believes the Heat will beat the Pelicans like he did right after the altercation according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. He would go on to say that “we're gonna get a dub” against New Orleans who have won eight of their last 11 games since the incident as Miami have won seven of their last 13.
“I don’t go into any game saying we’re going to lose,” Butler said who played in his first game after being out for two straight with a foot injury. “But we’re gonna get a dub. It’s on our home floor, anyways We will be fine.”
Butler says he's “trying to get my bread back” after heated altercation
In the Heat's win against the Cavs, Butler scored a game-high 30 points to go along with five assists, four rebounds, and four steals. When asked about what the memory is like from the heated altercation, he said that he “got fined a lot of money” and that he is “trying to get my bread back.”
“There is a freakin’ memory,” Butler said. “I got fined a lot of money. I don’t give a damn about tensions flaring and all of that. I’ve got kids. I’ve got diapers, baby food. That’s all I’m worried about, trying to get my bread back.”
Thomas Bryant talks Heat leaving incident in the past
As for Bryant who had the most games suspended and was ejected that infamous night along with Butler and Jovic also spoke after the game against the Cavs. He would say that the thoughts and memory from that time “doesn't linger.”
“It doesn’t linger,” Heat big-man Bryant said. “I’m not going to let that linger or anything like that.”
Bryant is coming off of a performance where he started in place of the injured Bam Adebayo as the Heat big-man scored six points and collected 10 rebounds in 15 minutes of action. He is more focused on moving on and leaving it behind as the Heat as they “don't look in the past.”
“It happens, it stays in the past, and we just move on,” Bryant said. “The train keeps rolling. We don’t look in the past.”
A look back at the incident from Feb. 23 as Heat beat the Pelicans, 106-95
It was an intense night on Feb. 23 when the Heat got the win over the Pelicans, but it wasn't without its controversy with the aforementioned fight and ejections from both sides. Butler was fired up after the game and called his shot that when the two teams next face each other, Miami will come out victorious.
“We’ll beat them the next time, too,” Butler said after Miami beat New Orleans. “We’re just a better team.”
“I’m not going to say they’re not a good team,” Butler continued via The Sun Sentinel. “I don’t think this really matters, I think when we get them on our home court, it’s going to be a different game. I hope that they’re healthy. It’s going to be the same outcome.”
The tensions really started when Heat star Kevin Love intentionally fouled Pelicans star Zion Williamson on a shot attempt. Williamson himself recalled the incident and even said that there was no harm, no foul on Love and that he even “protected me on my fall,” but from his point of view saw Butler and Marshall scuffle.
“I wasn’t tripping about K-Love because he actually protected me on my fall,” Williamson said after that game. “All of a sudden I see Butler kind of lunging toward Naji, so I’m trying to get there like, ‘Yo, relax, like what’s going on?’”
A crucial game for Miami besides past history
After that game, Butler also would say that the Heat are “playing some incredible basketball” and “it's that time of the year.” At the time, Miami was in the midst of a major turnaround, recovering from a seven-game skid earlier in the year, but since then, the team has suffered disappointing losses and injuries.
“Our team is so ready for anything that anybody’s thrown at us,” Butler said after that game. “We’re so together, playing some incredible basketball. I don’t think it matters who we go up against right now. It’s that time of the year.”
However, Miami is still 38-31 which puts them seventh in the tightly-packed Eastern Conference. The Heat start a four-game home stand where they will face the Pelicans inside the Kaseya Center Friday as there are 14 games left in the regular season.
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