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The 2023 NBA playoffs has been yet another tour de force for Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler. Adding to his already large list of iconic playoff moments, Butler put the eight-seeded Heat on his back as they dispatched of the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference, with ease. And now, the Heat are one win away from a return trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, even though they failed to close out the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.
Through nine games in this postseason run thus far, Butler has averaged 31.9 points per game, including a 56-point outburst in Game 4 against the Bucks. Thus, it's not a surprise to see some fans disappointment towards Butler's relatively lackluster Game 5 performance against the Knicks, which he finished with just 19 points on 5-12 shooting.
Still, the Heat star isn't fazed at all by a down performance, relative to the standards he has set this postseason. In fact, Jimmy Butler doesn't seem to care whether he goes scoreless or not, as long as his team gets the victory.
“It doesn’t matter if I score 40 or 50, 19 or nine. We always have enough to win. And if I score 10 points next game and we win, that won’t be an issue,” Butler said, per Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Of course, the Heat will have an easier time to achieve victory the easier Jimmy Butler finds it to put points on the board. Game 5 simply wasn't his night, as a spirited Knicks team, led by iron men Jalen Brunson and Quentin Grimes, put up the requisite effort to, at the very least, live to fight another day.
But with the Knicks defense zeroing in on Butler, the likes of Bam Adebayo, Kyle Lowry, and the rest of the Heat's unheralded undrafted crew (Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson, Caleb Martin) need to make their open shots count. This is where the Heat miss Tyler Herro's presence, as he not only gives the Heat more spacing, he also gives them another weapon that allows them to provide Butler with rest.
