No awards for Heat, Bam. And Butler, Antetokounmpo dish before playoff series
7:20 PM UPDATE: Heat center Bam Adebayo lost a chance to make an additional $16 million on Thursday when he learned that he’s not a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.
The finalists for that award are Utah’s Rudy Gobert, Golden State’s Draymond Green and Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons.
The five-year, $163 million contract extension Adebayo signed last offseason would have risen to about $179 million if he was named the Defensive Player of the Year this season. Adebayo recently said that he believes he’s deserving of the award.
Adebayo averaged 1.0 blocks and 1.2 steals per game and the player he guarded shot 44.3 percent, sixth-best among starting centers. He also did excellent work switching onto wing players, as we explained here in a Thursday morning piece.
Finalists were named for all NBA awards on TNT on Thursday night. The others:
MVP: Golden State’s Steph Curry, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Denver’s Nikola Jokic
Rookie of the Year: Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards and Sacramento’s Tyrese Haliburton
Sixth Man of the Year: Utah’s Jordan Clarkson, Utah’s Joe Ingles and New York’s Derrick Rose
Coach of the Year: Utah’s Quin Snyder, New York’s Tom Thibodeau and Phoenix’s Monty Williams
Most Improved Player: Detroit’s Jerami Grant, Denver’s Michael Porter Jr. and New York’s Julius Randle
BUTLER, GIANNIS TALK
Jimmy Butler has ridden an emotional rollercoaster this season, at times publicly bemoaning how he couldn’t be sure which Heat would “show up” and at other times praising this group and talking up its potential to do something special.
On Thursday, two days from the start of the first-round playoff series against Milwaukee, Butler struck an optimistic tone.
“We’re ready for anything,” he said in advance of Saturday’s Game 1 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee (2 p.m., ESPN, Bally Sports Sun).
“Everyone is gaining more and more confidence, knowing what we’re going to be doing possession to possession, and how together we are more than ever. That’s what it’s going to take. Everyone is in here early, studying every part of the Bucks… I like our chances anywhere. First to 16 wins. I’m ready to go.”
Butler is getting a 10-day break between games after missing two games with back discomfort last weekend.
“I’m good, ready to go, I’m in shape,” he said. “They expect me to go out there and be a decent player.”
Butler expects an “intense” series: “We feed off it, just like they probably feed off of it... Let’s see what each team is made out of.”
What has he learned from making the Finals in the bubble?
“How much better I have to be and how much better I have to make sure the guys around me are,” he said. “That’s one of my jobs as a leader here and for this organization. I’ve got to make sure we hold onto it from day one until... hopefully we’re holding that trophy.”
Even though he didn’t play in any of the three games against Milwaukee this season, “I guarantee they still have to scout for me.”
Butler said last month of the playoffs: “All we’ve got to do is get there and we’ll handle the rest.”
He said Thursday: “I’m stupidly locked in. They expect me to be a completely different individual player on both sides of the ball, every aspect. I like it. You don’t hold anything back. You leave it all out there…. Nobody is going to push one of my teammates down. Not going to allow that.”
Two Bucks offered testimonials to Butler during Milwaukee’s interview sessions on Thursday.
Bobby Portis, who played with Butler in Chicago, said:
“He has a lot of heart and a lot of dog in him. You can’t measure that. Even in practice, he would push guys and make guys work hard. He shows his leadership qualities with his work. He will be in the gym [at night] with his trainer. Being around a guy like that helped me. When you have heart like that and competitive spirit… he would thrive anywhere.”
Meanwhile, P.J. Tucker said of Butler: “He doesn’t care about his stats; he’s going to do whatever it takes for his team to win. He will make sure [teammates] get their shots, holds them accountable on defense. He’s the head of the snake of that team. We have to match his intensity.”
Butler said he will bring Big Face Coffee - his entrepreneurial venture - on the road to Milwaukee and cracked: “Goran [Dragic], you will be paying, so I hope you see this damn interview.”
Meanwhile, Giannis Antekounmpo - who was held to 21.8 points per game in last year’s Heat playoff series (Milwaukee lost the series, 4-1) after averaging 29.5 during the regular season - said Thursday: “I’m in a good place mentally and physically. The pressure is earned and I love it.”
Asked why he thinks this year will be different, he said: “I don’t know if this year is going to be different. It might be the same.”
He said the Heat’s constant movement on offense “makes it difficult. They keep moving, keep moving, swing it side to side, delayed actions. Reminds me of the Boston Celtics several years ago the way they move side to side. That’s a team you have to play 48 minutes. Not 42, not 44.
“We have to bring our A game defensively, keep them in front, not let them go downhill for lobs they like, threes they like.”
He said playing against Bam Adebayo is “tough, challenging. He plays with a lot of effort. Tries to put his team in position to win. You’ve got to love the challenge; that’s what life is about. Great player, great defender. He is a big part of what the Heat are right now.”
Portis said the Bucks have watched film of previous Heat games against Milwaukee and “we know Miami is going to try to build a wall against Giannis. When you watch it on film, that wall is real. They build it with three guys. When we’re open, we have to shoot it with confidence. It’s important for all of us to knock down shots, open up lanes for Giannis.”
THIS AND THAT
▪ Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry said on CNBC that the Bucks wanted to play the Heat in the playoffs.
In last Saturday’s Bucks win against the Heat - which made a first-round meeting between the teams far more likely - “we played our guys to make sure,” Lasry said. “We wanted to send a message. I think that message has been received. I think it’ll be a great matchup for us.”
▪ No surprise here, but Erik Spoelstra confirmed that Adebayo will not be spending all of his time defending Antetokounmpo.
“GA puts so much pressure on your defense,” Spoelstra said. “You can’t expect one guy to handle that and stay out of foul trouble for 48 minutes. Bam is going to be guarding virtually everybody on the roster. That’s true of Jimmy, Andre [Iguodala], Trevor [Ariza].”
▪ Portis, who’s in his first season with the Bucks, said he can tell that teammates still “have a bad taste in their mouths” from the Heat’s five-game Eastern Conference semifinal win against Milwaukee in last year’s playoffs.
▪ Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said of the Heat: “There is a length and physicality they bring. There’s always a physicality, always a [defensive] commitment. You know defense is important to them and that’s where it always starts.”
▪ Tucker said the Heat’s Ariza is “one of my best friends inside or outside of the league. He’s a tough, savvy player, can knock down threes, guard all five positions. That’s something any winning team is going to want. He can cover a lot of holes in different teams.
“You can put him pretty much anywhere in different lineups. He was part of [a group] that recruited me to come to Houston in free agency. Our families are close.”
Here’s my first of two Thursday Miami Heat pieces, with a look at how each Heat defender has done when guarding Giannis Antetokounmpo, and other nuggets.
Here’s my Thursday Miami Dolphins 6-pack.
Please follow me on Twitter (@flasportsbuzz) and bookmark this page for my archives.
This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 6:10 PM.
