Lowry, sitting next to Butler as he spoke, nodded when Butler said that. Next year, we will have enough and we’re going to be right back in the same situation, and we’re going to get it done.” “It sucks because you don’t know who is going to be on the roster any given year, you know what I’m saying? “I think we had enough – I think we do have enough,” Butler said. Robinson didn’t play in Game 7 and could only nibble on the sides of the rotation for most of the playoffs. Strus picked the worst time to go ice-cold shooting – the conference finals. The player’s place he would take, two guard Max Strus, took the place of Duncan Robinson, who has a five-year, $90 million contract. The Heat’s third-leading scorer in the conference finals, Victor Oladipo, is probably headed for free agency and a place in some team’s starting lineup, unless Spoelstra and Pat Riley change everything and make room for Oladipo in Miami’s starting five. Though no reason was given, he’s been battling a knee bruise for most of this series. Tucker barely played in the second half of Game 7. He made a cameo in Game 7 and didn’t score. Tyler Herro, Miami’s second-leading scorer during the regular season, was OK in the postseason at large but was wiped out of the conference finals because of a groin injury in Game 3. Lowry scored 15 points in Game 7 but shot 4-of-12.

Kyle Lowry, one of Butler’s closest friends, was robbed of a real postseason because of a balky hamstring and was brutal in the conference finals until Game 6.

There was only one other player, Bam Adebayo, who averaged double figures in scoring for the series. That’s not what he was saying, although what it looked like on the court seemed to support that at times. If you weren’t in the room, didn’t watch the interview on YouTube or your favorite social medium, these words might read like he was intimating he had to do it all for the Heat to win. I learned that I have to be better, and I will be better.” The Boston Celtics did what they came out here to do in this series. Stats don’t mean anything, as I say over and over again. “In my book, I just think I can’t have bad games,” Butler said. He took them back in Game 6, but in his estimation, it was already too late. He shot 10-of-35 from Games 3-5, barely got to the free-throw line and otherwise relinquished the reins of the series. He played in Games 4 and 5, both resounding losses for Miami, and did not look the part. It was something he’d been dealing with for at least the entirety of the playoffs. The Heat were on their way to a 2-1 series lead – and they got there – but Butler didn’t come out for the second half of Game 3 because of right knee irritation. Not because of the one shot he missed at the end of Game 7, but because of the shots he missed in the middle of the series. In Butler’s mind, the Heat lost this series because of him. It was a good, clean look, definitely better than anything we could have designed. That was the right look, and I just thought as it was leaving his hand, I thought for sure that was going down. “I thought it would have been an incredible storyline for Jimmy to pull up and hit that 3,” Spoelstra said.

That will be a little less memorable now that the Heat didn’t finish this series off and reach the Finals.īutler reached 40 points four times this postseason, the most in Heat history, not bad considering LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade played and won titles here. He had three of the four highest-scoring games of any player on either team, starting, of course, with his once-in-a-lifetime 47-pointer in Game 6 in Boston. To borrow a phrase from Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, when a season like this ends like this, it “ends with a thud.”īutler averaged 25.6 points in the conference finals and 27.4 points for the playoffs. The ball didn’t cross over the rim, but smashed into it. “Not again,” Boston’s Marcus Smart thought as the ball left Butler’s hand.īutler’s best intention was not realized. He makes it, like he’d made so many other shots in this series, and maybe, probably, Miami is headed to the Finals. But he had the ball in his hands, he was pushing it up the floor, and standing between him and the basket was Al Horford, who was never going to meet him at the 3-point line in time. The shooter gets to pose, his right hand stretched into the air, wrist held in a bent position, fingers maybe pointing down, or at the rim, or maybe wiggling. These are the kinds of shots that go in, especially in Miami. His team on the verge of finishing a furious comeback. In an NBA playoffs that belonged to Butler, an Eastern Conference finals that belonged to Butler, a Game 7 that belonged to Butler.

Jimmy butler stats in playoffs 2022