Jimmy Butler’s three-point surge has spilled into the playoffs, and it’s hard to explain
Miami Heat teammates and coaches, and even his own personal trainer, keep pushing Jimmy Butler to shoot more threes. Butler is finally listening to their advice.
“Everybody is just getting on my nerves about shooting more threes, honestly. So I am out there,” Butler said.
The results have been shocking, considering Butler was one of the NBA’s worst three-point shooters in the regular season.
On his way to setting a playoff career high with 45 points to lead the Heat to a 115-105 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night at FTX Arena in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series, Butler shot 4 of 7 from three-point range. It marked just the third time in Butler’s Heat career that he has made at least four threes in a game, with the other two coming in previous seasons.
It’s the continuation of a recent positive outside shooting trend for Butler, who has shot 15 of 33 (45.5 percent) from three-point range in his last 10 games. That includes a 5-of-9 (55.6 percent) start from beyond the arc in the first two playoff games.
“I’m trying to tell you, my teammates and the coaches and everybody got so much confidence in me to score the ball and facilitate the ball and get a stop,” Butler said, with the Heat entering a two-day break in the middle of the series with a 2-0 lead ahead of Friday’s Game 3 in Atlanta. “I just be out there hooping. I don’t even realize that I’m really shooting the three. I’m just taking the shot that the defense gives me and they’ve been going in as of late.”
They have definitely been going in at a much higher rate for Butler than they did in the regular season.
Butler made just 27 of his 116 (23.3 percent) three-point attempts in the regular season. Among the 278 players who attempted at least 100 threes in the regular season, Butler ranked 276th in three-point percentage ahead of only New Orleans Pelicans forward Naji Marshall (20 percent) and Orlando Magic rookie guard Jalen Suggs (21.4 percent)
“Explain Jimmy making shots? He’s finally shooting them,” Heat guard Gabe Vincent said when asked to explain Butler’s three-point surge that has spilled into the playoffs. “How many times have we seen the last couple years, him turn down those shots. Jimmy is a great offensive player, as well as a great defensive player. We’ve seen that time and time again. Now that he’s shooting that three ball more confidently, he’s making them and it just takes his offensive game to another level.”
Butler, 32, has actually been a much better three-point shooter in the playoffs than in the regular season since joining the Heat. He has shot just 24 percent on two three-point attempts per game in the regular season and 35.8 percent on 2.5 three-point attempts per game in the playoffs over three seasons with the Heat.
Following Game 2, a reporter compared Butler’s playoff uptick in three-point shooting to Heat legend Dwyane Wade. Similar to Butler, Wade wasn’t known as an efficient outside shooter but lifted his three-point percentage from 29 percent in the regular season to 33.7 percent in the playoffs during his Heat career.
“That actually is a good comparison,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Because if you get in those pressure moments and the moments of truth, if you’re on the other side, would you ever like want to just give Dwyane Wade an open three? You would not because he’s a killer. He’s going to like seize that moment and Jimmy has a lot of those same qualities.
“You can say whatever the percentage is. Throw those all out when it becomes about winning. They’ll find a way to kill you. You can look at a scouting report, look at numbers. But that’s when they kill you the most. The next game, it might be the free-throw line. It might be the attacks, it might be play-making. That’s part of his genius.”
Along with making more threes, Butler is also taking more threes. Before averaging 3.3 three-point attempts over this 10-game stretch, he put up 1.9 three-point attempts per game over his first 49 appearances of the season.
“It’s time,” Heat point guard Kyle Lowry said of Butler’s well-timed efficient three-point shooting display. “We need that spacing. He’s stepping his game up. He’s still kind of evolving. He’s showing a different side of his game. It’s hard to game plan for a guy who can shoot threes, get to the basket.”
Butler credited his personal skills coach Chris Brickley for his improved outside shooting.
“I work out a lot with Chris Brickley, and he’s always letting me know to shoot more and more threes,” Butler said. “We work on it day in and day out, and he’s been a huge help. I can’t wait to work out with him in Atlanta, as well. And we’ll see how many threes I can make next game.”
Butler’s three-point shooting has become a late-season talking point, and for good reason after it helped the Heat win Game 2. He has even taken to wearing a shooting sleeve in recent weeks, as he has joked that he now considers himself a three-point shooter.
But the bottom line with Butler’s game remains the same: He’ll do whatever is needed to win games whether the threes are going in or not.
The Heat has outscored the Hawks by 31.9 points per 100 possessions with Butler on the court in the first two games of the series. In the 24 minutes that Butler has spent on the bench, the Hawks have outscored the Heat by 20.9 points per 100 possessions.
In other words, the Heat has been 52.8 points per 100 possessions better with Butler on the court to open the playoffs.
“Jimmy is a max guy, a go-to guy, a killer,” Spoelstra said. “However you want to describe it, who cares? He knows how to win. He knows how to help teams win. The game is played on both sides of the floor. It’s played with IQ, it’s played with toughness, it’s played with making plays in those winning moments.”
