What changes for Jimmy Butler in the postseason? Inside the brain of Playoff Jimmy
Jimmy Butler is an independent thinker. He likes to figure things out for himself, and he’s deliberate about it, too.
Off the court, that could mean solving a puzzle. On the court, that could mean using the regular season to solve a basketball puzzle.
The process is the same: Learn along the way and apply that wisdom to the next challenge.
This is the essence of what has become known as “Playoff Jimmy,” a player who has earned a reputation in recent years for raising his level of play and preparation in the postseason.
“Over the course of time, the thing that I figured out with him is he approaches the season the same way he approaches the game,” Butler’s close friend and agent Bernie Lee said. “He’ll take his time to kind of figure out where the gap is, like what’s the sequence or what’s the puzzle. For him, over the course of a regular season, he figures out his own team.”
Then Butler turns it up a notch.
In his first two playoff games with the Heat, Butler averaged 23 points on 46.4 percent shooting, five rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block in 37.4 minutes to help lead Miami to a 2-0 lead in its first-round series against the Indiana Pacers. Game 3 is set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (Fox Sports Sun, TNT) at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
The Heat outscored the Pacers by 25 points with the five-time All-Star on the court in the first two games of the series.
“A heightened sense of urgency,” forward Duncan Robinson said when asked what has been different about Butler since the playoffs began. “He plays the game with so much passion. I think you guys all see that. He did it during the regular season, but I will say it feels like it’s taken up a notch here. He wants to win, he loves to win and he holds people accountable.”
Butler, 30, watches a lot more film, detaches from the outside world and arrives to the arena a little earlier for games during the playoffs. The night before Game 1 of the series, he spent about four hours watching film on the Pacers.
“When it comes to competing, he’s wired a little bit differently,” Lee said. “I think I’m putting that mildly. With the playoffs, you’re so close to whatever your goal is. For him, I think he’s wired like every high-level elite person doing something in life. Once you get closer to the finish line, your focus kind of locks in a little bit more. He realizes. You give him a smaller window and you say, ‘Look, over the course of these next 14 days, this is what you have to do four times. Can you figure it out?’ Yeah, he definitely lives for that challenge.”
Why can’t Butler do this in the regular season? It appears to be part of his process, as he works to learn about his teammates and where they fit in around him.
That was even more important this season as Butler worked to grow familiar with his new team. He averaged the fewest shot attempts (13.1) among the 45 NBA players who averaged at least 19 points in the regular season.
There was a three-shot game against the New York Knicks on Dec. 20, a six-shot outing against the Pacers on Jan. 8, and a four-shot night against the Washington Wizards on March 8.
“I’m like everybody else,” Lee said. “I’m like every fan that watches the game. When you watch him continually shoot the ball like eight or nine times a game, and you’re watching him continuously turn down open looks to involve other people. I do the same thing that everybody else does. I scream at the TV. I do all these things.”
What’s behind Butler’s approach?
▪ Bam Adebayo scored 20 points in that Dec. 20 game.
▪ Tyler Herro scored a team-high 19 points in that Jan. 8 game.
▪ Adebayo, Kendrick Nunn and Robinson combined for 68 points in that March 8 game.
“He just has a brain that kind of likes to try to figure things out. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure it out,” Lee said.
“He spends his time more during the course of a six to seven-month season focusing on his own team. So he figures out who is my team. Like who does what? What does this person need to be their best? What do I need? How can I help them? How can they help me? How do they play? All of those things. For six or seven months, he figures those things out and then he puts it into action in the playoffs. In the playoffs, there’s a different energy level there.”
This doesn’t mean Butler has been perfect in the postseason during his NBA career. Far from it.
Butler was on a Minnesota Timberwolves team that was eliminated in the first round by the Houston Rockets in the 2018 playoffs. He was also on Bulls teams that didn’t get past the first round in 2017, 2014 and as a rookie in 2012.
But something seemed to change last season, when Butler nearly helped lead the Philadelphia 76ers to the Eastern Conference Finals. Philadelphia was eliminated by the eventual NBA champion Toronto Raptors in Game 7 of the second round, as Butler averaged 19.4 points, six rebounds, 5.2 assists and took on the assignment of defending both Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry.
“I’ve been with Jimmy in some of the biggest games of his life, especially in college, before we even got to this level,” said Heat forward Jae Crowder, who played one season with Butler at Marquette. “His level of play just rises to the occasion. He does not shy away from the level of play, he accepts it and I think that’s what gets him over the hump. Other players may shy away from the moment, he does a great job of just embracing it and picking up his level of play.
“I think our team expects nothing else. We know he’s going to come, be ready for whatever the occasion may be and he’s going to rise to it. There are no gimmicks about it. He’s definitely a player you want on your side when it’s time to go.”
It’s a small sample size, but the Heat is already a plus-10 in Butler’s 17 fourth-quarter minutes over the first two playoff games. With Butler on the court in the fourth quarter during this span, Miami has been dominant on both ends with an offensive rating of 121.2 and a defensive rating of 93.8.
Butler is 4 of 5 on threes in the first two games of the series, with three of those makes coming in the fourth quarter. He shot just 29 of 119 (24.4 percent) on threes during the regular season.
“Everybody knows why we got Jimmy Butler,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s for these kinds of moments, and particularly in the fourth quarter of playoff games where you can give him the ball and he’ll create something good for your team.”
How does Butler explain it?
“This is the time to really hoop,” Butler said of the playoffs. “I think this is when I play my best, to tell you the truth. I’m just willing to do whatever it takes to win.”
MEYERS LEONARD SPEAKS
For the first time since falling out of the Heat’s rotation, center Meyers Leonard spoke to reporters following Friday’s practice.
Leonard started his first 49 games with the Heat this season before missing 16 consecutive games prior to the league shutdown because of a sprained left ankle.
When the season resumed at Disney, he was moved to a bench role. Leonard played in just two of the eight seeding games and has not played in either of the first two playoff games.
“I’m not going to say it has been easy,” Leonard said Friday of falling out of the rotation. “I absolutely love it, man. I love competing with this team. I love everything that this organization is about. There’s something about this group of guys, our staff, everybody around this organization that I truly, truly enjoy. And a piece of that is missing for me. And it would be ignorant for me to say that I don’t truly, truly miss that. However, staying ready is important, so when I get my opportunity I’ll be prepared.”
In non-basketball news, Leonard said he and his wife Elle Leonard donated $100,000 “to the City of Miami, to Liberty City and Overtown, because they were slammed by voter suppression and COVID.”
“I have felt connected to this city immediately, and that was something that we felt we could do to help a place that clearly needed it,” Leonard said.
▪ The Heat is listing Jae Crowder (sprained left ankle) and Derrick Jones Jr. (sprained left ankle) as questionable for Game 3 on Saturday.
Rookies KZ Okpala (personal reasons) and Gabe Vincent (right shoulder sprain) remain out.
The Pacers remain without All-Star center Domantas Sabonis (left foot plantar fasciitis) and wing Jeremy Lamb (torn left ACL) for Game 3.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 2:30 PM.
