Los Angeles (AFP) - Three years after leading the Miami Heat to the brink of an NBA championship, Jimmy Butler is once more inspiring his team on an epic playoff journey.
The 33-year-old NBA star produced the latest in a series of jaw-dropping performances on Wednesday to send the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks crashing out of the postseason in the first round.
Butler's 42-point masterpiece in Milwaukee was the sort of inspirational display that has earned him multiple nicknames over the years that reflect his unerring knack of delivering under pressure, from "Playoff Jimmy" to "Jimmy Buckets."
On Wednesday night, Butler forced overtime with a sensational alley-oop, draining an acrobatic two-pointer while falling backwards in mid-air under pressure from two Bucks players.
"The game plan was simple: Get the ball to Buckets and let him do what he do," was how team-mate Gabe Vincent described Butler's tying shot.
Incredibly, Butler's game-winning performance came just two days after another of his logic-defying displays, a 56-point gem in game four.
In the five playoff games against Milwaukee, Butler averaged 37.2 points, with 4.8 assists and six rebounds.
Butler, who endured homelessness as a teenager before eventually being drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 2011, is the figurehead of a Miami team that has proven fearless in adversity.
Their last two wins over Milwaukee were earned after overturning double-digit leads late in the game.
"We're a resilient group.We stick together through everything," Butler said on Wednesday.
"We're a good group of basketball players and we're out there having fun playing basketball the right way.Good things happen when you do that.
"We just play hard.We know what we're capable of.We don't listen to the outside noise.We're going to do what we do, learn from our mistakes and get better."
'Desperate, maniacal, psychotic'
Asked to explain his own incredible run of form, Butler reflected: "I'm just in a groove, in a rhythm.I've been shooting the ball an incredible amount in this series, but I feel like they're shots I can make – and my team-mates keep telling me: 'Shoot the ball, shoot the ball.'
"When push comes to shove, I always remember why I do what I do.For my kids, for my family, for my guys.I know if I'm doing things the right way they have to follow suit."
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra meanwhile says Butler is the personification of the Heat's team culture.
"I've said it many times -- he is us and we are him," Spoelstra said after Wednesday's win.
"I just respect him so much being such a unique, world class, elite competitor.A lot of guys play the game of basketball in this league.He competes to win.And that's a different language.
"He's desperate, and urgent, and maniacal, and sometimes psychotic, about the will to try to win.He'll make everybody in the building feel it.
"And that's why he is us and we are him.We needed every bit of every play that he made tonight."
Butler's indomitable spirit has been a recurring feature of his NBA career.
In the NBA Finals in 2020, Butler went head-to-head with LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in a do-or-die game five that ended with a 111-108 victory.
The enduring image of that encounter was an exhausted Butler, doubled up on the side of the court near the end of a game in which he played almost the entire 48 minutes, finishing with 35 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.
"I left it all out there on the court," said Butler, who would ultimately see his hopes of a championship end in a 4-2 series defeat to the Lakers.
Spoelstra meanwhile said Butler should be an example to every young player entering the NBA.
"Every young player coming into this league should study footage of Jimmy Butler, a definition of a two-way player competing on both ends," Spoelstra said at the time."His will to win is remarkable."
