Somehow, Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat completed a first-round upset against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Heat had to go through the eye of the needle to get where they are now, as they also had to survive in the Play-in Tournament. Without Butler, the Heat certainly wouldn't even thread anything.
Butler put together a performance for the ages in the first round versus the Bucks, and that's left Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra reaching for a dictionary to find the best words to describe the utter dominance of his star.
“He competes to win. That's a different language. And he's desperate, and urgent, and maniacal, and sometimes psychotic about the will to try to win…and that's why he is us and we are him,” Spoelstra said of Jimmy Butler following the Heat's series-clinching 128-126 road win in Game 5 to seal the deal and book Miami's ticket to the second round.
After going off for 56 points in a come-from-behind victory in Game 4, Butler showed he's not fatigued enough to drop yet another monster performance to tow his team to a victory. Jimmy Butler racked up 42 points on 17-for-33 shooting from the field with eight rebounds and eight assists Wednesday night in Milwaukee. He finished the first round with an incredible average of 37.6 points on 59.7 field goal perfcentage.
The Heat are going to need the same “desperate, urgent, and maniacal” Jimmy Butler in the next round when they have an old-school battle against the New York Knicks, which kicks off on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
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