Jimmy Butler missed basketball (and dominoes), but the Miami Heat missed him even more
Jimmy Butler plopped down in his chair and let out a long, exaggerated sigh. It had been a while — almost exactly three weeks — since last he sat down in front of a camera to talk about playing basketball.
“It’s different,” he said Saturday, “because I didn’t get to play the game that I love.”
That meant basketball, he quickly clarified, and then he joked that it also meant dominoes.
Butler was back. More than two weeks going through the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols hadn’t changed him a bit.
“It was great,” combo guard Tyler Herro said Saturday, “to have our leader back out there with us tonight.”
The Miami Heat needed every ounce he could provide. After five straight losses, the Heat was way down in 13th place in the Eastern Conference with a quarter of the season gone. Even its meeting with the Sacramento Kings on Saturday in Miami was decided on the final possession.
The Heat (7-12) needed every one of Butler’s 30 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and 34 minutes to eke out a 105-104 win.
Miami desperately missed Butler and he missed his Heat.
“I just want to compete,” the All-Star said. “I want to be with my guys. We’re in this thing together, and I realize I think I’m a decent player and I give us maybe a little bit better chance to win. I respect them for how hard they play, how they never give up.”
If it wasn’t obvious throughout the five-game losing streak or during any of Miami’s eight losses in the last three weeks, it was clear by halftime how much the Heat needed him.
Butler, playing for the first time since Jan. 9, was doing everything he could to keep the Heat’s losing streak from spiraling to sixth straight and the result was a vintage Butler performance. The forward erupted for 20 points in the first half and finished with a season-high 30, and two plays he made in the final minute helped Miami sew up a one-point win at AmericanAirlines Arena.
It wasn’t just that Butler was back. He was at his absolute best at the moment the Heat needed him most.
“You simply cannot put a modern-day analytic to Jimmy’s will to win,” coach Erik Spoelstra said Saturday.
When Miami landed Butler in the summer of 2019, the organization immediately swung from afterthought to championship contender. The Heat, which missed the 2019 NBA playoffs, never lost more than three in a row last season and rode its star to its first NBA Finals since 2014. This year, Miami was only .500 when Butler went out, then lost 8 of 10 with him sidelined.
Butler, who didn’t disclose whether he tested positive for the coronavirus, cleared health and safety protocols earlier this week. He went through pregame walkthroughs Wednesday and Thursday, but didn’t play in either game. Miami lost by both to the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers.
While he didn’t dive into many specifics, Butler said he couldn’t do much for a long stretch of the last few weeks. He ramped up quickly in recent days with the help of trainers Stanley Remy, James Scott and Armando Rivas.
“I have a great group that really helped me focus in on what I need to be doing,” Butler said. “I felt like I was ready to go.”
The team Butler rejoined this weekend still wasn’t whole. Guard Goran Dragic, wing Avery Bradley, forward Maurice Harkless and post player Meyers Leonard were all out with various injuries, and guard Kendrick Nunn was unavailable for the first quarter because of an inconclusive COVID test, Spoelstra said. The Heat played crunch time with Max Strus, a player on a two-way contract, at shooting guard. Miami trailed by as much as 11 in the first quarter before taking an 11-point lead in the fourth.
In the last minute, the lead had vanished and the Heat trailed 104-103. Butler isolated against Kings forward Harrison Barnes and drove the right baseline. He faked a spin to his right, then twirled to his left and banked in a go-ahead shot with 42 seconds left. Forty seconds later, he made sure Miami hung on with his defense.
Sacramento’s final possession was a scramble. The Kings called timeout with 4.6 seconds left and inbounded from the right sideline. Tyrese Haliburton passed to De’Aaron Fox at the top of the key, and Butler flew out to the perimeter to meet the Sacramento point guard and force the ball out of his hands. He threw a pass to Richaun Holmes at the free-throw line and Adebayo blocked the Kings post player at the buzzer to win 105-104.
Once it was over, Butler still had nits to pick. He had been masterful and the Heat still barely managed to beat one of the worst teams in the league. Miami’s “habits,” he said, were “really bad.”
He knows Miami can be much better. He saw it last year. The Heat will have a chance to try to fix them again Monday when it hosts the Charlotte Hornets (9-11) at 7:30 p.m. For the first time in weeks, it could have something resembling continuity.
This story was originally published January 31, 2021 at 9:00 AM.
