After missing a last-minute, potential Finals berth-clinching three against the Celtics in Game 7 of last year’s Eastern Conference finals, Jimmy Butler didn’t sulk. He didn’t watch the shot on a loop over the summer. He didn’t spend the offseason wondering “what if?” Instead, he told those close to him if he earned a similar opportunity next postseason, not only would he shoot that gutsy three again, next time he would make it.
On Monday, in his first truly tense, high-leverage game since the Boston shot, Butler delivered a whopping, incomprehensible 56 points—including two jaw-dropping pull-up jumpers late in the fourth—giving the Heat a 119–114 win and a 3–1 lead over the Bucks, pushing the NBA’s best regular-season team to the brink of elimination. And in the process, Butler showed he’s the current top dog in his conference, and perhaps in the entire postseason field.
Jimmy Buckets was sublime on Monday. He scored his 56 on only 28 shots. He went 15-of-18 from the free-throw line and 3-of-8 from three. Otherwise, he bullied his way into the paint or found a feathery touch on midrange Js and floaters. The degree of difficulty was incredibly high, as Butler was primarily matched up against the rugged Jrue Holiday. Butler gave everyone buckets, though, from Holiday to Giannis Antetokounmpo to Brook Lopez and anyone else between him and the rim. Despite being hounded by Holiday and surrounded by Milwaukee’s length, Butler shot 80%—once more, for emphasis, 80%—on his 20 two-point attempts.
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He saved his best for last as well. In the fourth quarter, Butler entered the game with the Heat trailing 98–87. Over the final eight minutes, he outscored Milwaukee by himself, 22–16, and contributed seven points during Miami’s 13–0 run that overturned a 101–89 deficit late in the fourth quarter. And true to his word, he took and sunk two massive jumpers to swing the game. The first was a sudden pull-up three from the left wing to give Miami a 110–109 lead with 1:20 to go. Then on the very next possession, from the left wing but with his foot on the three-point line, Butler rose up and hit a shot over Holiday to extend the lead to three.
THE JIMMY BUTLER SHOW 😱
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 25, 2023
(via @NBAonTNT)pic.twitter.com/vvq0puskM3
And Butler did all of this with very little offensive help from his teammates. The rest of Miami’s starters combined to score only 31 points. Butler shot 67.9% from the field in Game 4. The rest of the team shot 40.1%. It was an all-time “put the team on your back” performance.
Other great individuals have showed out this postseason, from Devin Booker to Nikola Jokić to Jayson Tatum. None of them is playing an opponent as difficult as Milwaukee. And with Tyler Herro out, none of them have the lack of a second scoring option as Butler does. This also doesn’t even begin to take into account what Jimmy has done defensively, where he’s remained stout despite his Herculean offensive workload. For the series, Butler is now averaging 36.5 points on a comical 62.8% shooting to go along with 5.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists. There’s a lot of postseason left, but no one is playing better than Jimmy right now.
Butler’s Game 4 efforts spoiled the return of Antetokounmpo, who was playing in his first game since injuring his back in Game 1. The Greek Freak was special, casually amassing a 26-10-13 triple double in his return to action. And for most of the game, his presence appeared to be overwhelming the Heat and their relative lack of size. If not for Butler, Monday night would have been about the outsized impact of Giannis.
Instead, he ran into an unstoppable force in the fourth. There were legitimate questions around whether Miami’s offense could sustain its level of play with Giannis back on the floor. As a whole, the Heat clearly took a step back. That just meant Butler had to deliver even more, and he came through in spades, outdueling arguably the best player in the league.
Milwaukee is on the ropes, but closing out the Bucks won’t be easy. Two of the final three games of the series will be in Wisconsin. And outside of Butler, Miami looked lost on offense Monday. Still, the Heat will go into the remainder of the series believing they have the best player on the floor. Giannis is certainly capable of snatching that crown back, and he will be gunning for it in Game 5. Butler has given Miami an incredible opportunity, though. And he will attack that opportunity the same as he did his massive fourth quarter shots in Game 4: fearlessly.
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