Jimmy Butler’s late-game acting job for Heat goes viral, and why Mark Wahlberg is involved
As Miami Heat five-time All-Star Jimmy Butler tried to explain his acting job in the final seconds of Tuesday’s home win over the New York Knicks, he jokingly credited good friend Mark Wahlberg for his performance.
“I’ve studied Mark Wahlberg and how he acts so incredibly well,” Butler said with a smile, as the Heat prepares to begin its long seven-game trip Thursday night against the Houston Rockets. “I’ve taken a few pointers.”
With the Heat clinging to a one-point lead, Knicks forward Julius Randle missed a fadeaway shot with 10.2 seconds to play.
What happened next was a frantic series of events, with Heat forward Andre Iguodala grabbing the rebound and Randle quickly stripping it away and running over Butler in a scramble for the loose ball. A loose ball foul was called on Randle with 6.2 seconds left, and Butler remained on the court for the next 40 seconds seemingly writhing in pain with Heat teammates coming over to check on him.
Except cameras also caught Butler peeking out to see if he had drawn a foul call and if there was any chance it could be upgraded to a flagrant. Then Butler quickly picked himself up from the court with a smile, and made one of two free throws to send the Heat to a 98-86 win.
“For my guys, they gotta to know that everything’s going to be OK,” Butler said when asked about his theatrical moment. “Like it’s OK to have fun, it’s OK to joke around because that’s what we’re out here playing for. Yeah, we want to win, but never forget to have fun. Smile and enjoy the situation that you’re in.”
As for Butler’s relationship with Wahlberg, it’s a real and genuine friendship.
Not only did Butler credit Wahlberg for his own acting skills earlier this week, but he has also pointed to the Hollywood star in the past as his inspiration for the early morning workouts he puts himself through.
“I saw Mark Wahlberg do it and I give him a lot of credit because that [guy] has everything,” Butler said during an appearance on “The JJ Redick Podcast” last year. “... He’s one of the realest human beings that I’ve ever been around. He works every single day like that .... like he has nothing and it’s inspiring. So when I saw that for the first time, I was like: ‘Look man, if this man is doing it and he got everything and I don’t got [expletive]. There has gotta be something to it.’ Now that I do it, it’s habit and I got the rest of my day to do whatever I want.”
Butler and Wahlberg met in 2013, when Wahlberg was in Chicago filming one of the Transformers movies.
Early in his NBA career with the Chicago Bulls at that point, Butler crossed paths with Wahlberg at the Berto Center, the Bulls’ former practice facility.
“He was like, ‘I want to play,’ and we were like, ‘Let’s hoop,’” Butler recalled during an interview in 2015 with Chicago Magazine. “I was like, Damn, this is the first big-time famous individual that I’ve met.”
Soon after, Butler joined Wahlberg at a bowling alley to watch a boxing match on TV. They exchanged numbers, met up during the Bulls’ next West Coast trip in Los Angeles and have been friends ever since.
“I love him to death,” Butler said of Wahlberg in his 2015 interview with Chicago Magazine. “He’s always asking about me as a person. Forget Jimmy Butler as a basketball player. ‘Hey, you doing OK? Is there anything I can help you with?’ I try to pick his brain a little bit.”
Apparently, the friendship has helped Butler grow as an actor.
“He’s a big kid,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said when asked about Butler’s late-game theatrics Tuesday night. “That’s all I can say about that. In that situation, he’s just a big kid and everybody knew it. That’s why we were all laughing because we knew. First of all, if Jimmy was really injured, he’s not peeking. If Jimmy is really injured, everyone knows that Jimmy is trying to get up and trying to walk it off. The fact that he was down there for so long, just being Jimmy. I feel like that’s one of those things where, during the course of the game, it lightens the mood.”
ALL-STAR VOTING UPDATE
The second release of All-Star fan balloting released Thursday has Butler fifth (662,691 votes) and Adebayo sixth (578,133) among Eastern Conference frontcourt players, behind Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant (4,234,433), Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (3,282,478), Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid (3,022,105) and Boston’s Jayson Tatum (1,680,780).
Voting by fans, media and players will determine the starters, with the top three frontcourt and top two backcourt vote-getters in each conference to be named All-Star starters. Voting ends Feb. 16, with All-Star starters announced on Feb. 18.
No Heat guards were in the East’s top 10 in Thursday’s release of fan voting.
Conference coaches will select the seven reserves from each conference.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are expected to have a finalized agreement in the coming days for an All-Star Game to take place on March 7 in Atlanta, according to The Associated Press.
“It’s up to the older players. I ain’t got no say so,” Adebayo said when asked this week about the league’s plan to hold an All-Star Game during a pandemic. “They ain’t going to listen to me. I’m a one-time All-Star. They’re going to listen to the dudes like Jimmy Butler, [LeBron James]. My opinion doesn’t matter, so let them handle that.”
▪ Heat forward Moe Harkless is available to play against the Rockets on Thursday. Harkless missed the past nine games with a left thigh contusion.
But the Heat remains without Avery Bradley (right calf strain), Goran Dragic (left ankle sprain), Meyers Leonard (left shoulder surgery) and Chris Silva (left hip flexor strain). None of the four traveled with the team to Houston.
Leonard is expected to miss the rest of the season.
This story was originally published February 11, 2021 at 11:56 AM.
