What you do in the regular season defines you as a player. What you do in the playoffs though cements your legacy in the NBA. Jimmy Butler has proven time and time that he is one of the best players in the league given his playoff performances, but what he is doing this year for the Miami Heat is special.
The Heat finished the regular season with a 44-38 record, resulting in them having to fight for a playoff spot via the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament. Losing to the Atlanta Hawks in the 7-seed play-in game and then facing elimination in the 8-seed game against the Chicago Bulls, none of this mattered to Butler because he knew not only what his team was capable of, but what he was capable of.
Finding a way to defeat the Bulls and claim the 8-seed in the East behind Butler's 31-point game, nobody thought Miami stood a chance in the first-round against the Milwaukee Bucks, the team with the best record in the entire league. Butler and the Heat stole Game 1 of this series on the road and took down the Bucks in five games. Then everyone was taking the New York Knicks to beat Miami in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Butler and the Heat won Game 1 of this series on the road and went on to defeat the Knicks in six games.
Now finding themselves as heavy underdogs once more against the Boston Celtics, the reigning Eastern Conference champions, Butler and the Heat continue to win when it matters most. Miami took Game 1 of this Eastern Conference Finals series in Boston 123-116 on Wednesday night, pushing their record to 3-0 on the road in the first game of playoff series this year. Butler's performance against the Celtics left everyone shaking their heads yet again simply because of how incredible he has been.
Through 11 playoff games now, the Heat All-Star is averaging 31.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game while shooting 52.2 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from three-point range. Compared to the regular season, Butler's scoring average is up nearly 37.5 percent and he has become a more consistent perimeter threat.
It does not matter if you want to call him “Playoff Butler” or “Himmy Butler” because at the end of the day, the leader of the Heat doesn't even focus on what people are saying about him or his team.
“Damn right, I did. Damn right, we did,” Butler immediately stated when asked if he thought being up 1-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals was possible before they had earned the 8-seed. “And the best part about it is we still don't care what none of y’all think. We don’t care if you pick us to win, we never have and we never will… Our circle is small, but this circle got so much love for one another.”
What Butler has been able to accomplish thus far is quite extraordinary and after winning Game 1 on the road against the Celtics, he is just three wins away from taking the Heat back to the NBA Finals for the second time since 2020.
Not counting the play-in games, Butler has now recorded at least 25 points in nine of the eleven playoff games he has played in, including a historic 56-point performance against the Bucks in Game 4 of their first-round series. What stands out the most about some of his scoring performances is that when Butler goes for 30 points or more, Miami is 5-0 in these playoffs. Given that he is averaging above 30 points per game right now, things are looking good for the Heat's chances of advancing from a statistical point of view.
His performance on Wednesday night in Boston was superb simply because Butler was involved in every single play that was made in this game. He ended the night with 35 points, seven assists, six steals and five rebounds, joining Michael Jordan as the only player in league history since 1973-74 to have at least 30 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals in a road playoff game. While his scoring numbers are definitely eye-popping, Butler has been exceptionally special for the Heat because of how he has evolved the team's offense.
During the regular season, the Heat ranked 25th in offensive rating and averaged 109.5 points per game, the worst mark in the entire league. In the playoffs, the Heat rank third in offensive rating and are averaging 114.1 points per game. Butler has really tapped into every player's potential on this roster and turned a dead offense into one of the deadliest offenses remaining in the postseason. On top of all of this, they are doing so without their third-best scoring option in Tyler Herro.
“I’m playing at an incredible level because they are allowing me to do so,” Butler said in his postgame remarks. “They are not putting a limit on my game. They are trusting me with the ball, on the defensive end. I think that’s what any basketball player wants. That's what anybody wants out of life, is just to be wanted, to be appreciate and just let you go out there and run.”
Outside of Butler, the rest of the team shot 56.7 percent from the floor and Miami had five other players score in double figures in Game 1 against the Celtics, including Caleb Martin and Kyle Lowry with 15 points each off the bench. Having a balanced scoring attack that can flow through Butler at any moment makes the Heat an extremely dangerous team and right now, nobody has come up with a solution to stop the six-time All-Star.
The regular season matters and you have to win games over the course of the 82-game schedule in order to make the playoffs. When the postseason begins though, the narrative surrounding every single team changes and everyone's record is 0-0. Whoever gets to 16 wins first claims the ultimate prize of a championship and for Butler, the only number that matters now is seven, as seven wins separates him from basketball immortality.
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