Jimmy Butler was never known for backing down. And as the Miami Heat's leader both on and off the court, Butler will always have his teammates' backs guaranteed. This is exactly what happened Wednesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In the second quarter of tonight's loss, Butler seemed to get retribution against Thunder guard Chris Paul after the latter was getting the best of Heat forward Duncan Robinson.
“Yeah, I'm not (going to let it slide).” when asked post-game about the altercation between teammate Duncan Robinson and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul (per SportsCenter). “You're not gonna throw the ball at my teammate like that.”
“You’re not gonna throw the ball at my teammate like that. … You mess with one of my guys, especially one of my shooters, then you gotta deal with me and everybody else.”
—Jimmy Butler on Chris Paul throwing the ball at Duncan Robinson pic.twitter.com/vS8BQt5buJ
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 13, 2020
The squabble between Paul and Robinson started when Paul was aggressively defending the 6'7″ stretch forward. After a few words were exchanged, Paul ended up throwing the ball at Robinson after stealing an inbounds pass while on his way out of bounds. On the next offensive play of Miami, Jimmy Butler got Paul on a switch and ran him over with a shoulder-elbow combo to deliberately take the charge.
“So yeah, I'll get a turnover. I'll get an offensive foul. You mess with one of my guys, especially one of my shooters, then you gotta deal with me and everybody else.” Butler added.
Both Butler and Paul are not new to being very competitive on the floor. They are both known play mind games against their opponents and aren't afraid to get physical if needed. Fortunately, the altercation didn't further escalate and the Thunder went on to win 116-115.
The Heat sure looks to be locked in and ready for the post-season.
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