The lovefest between the Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat tried to dominate preseason headlines. It’s real, and it showed in Butler’s debut.
The Miami Heat are off to a 3-1 record through four games in the newest NBA season. While Jimmy Butler was out for three of the first four games due to the birth of his daughter, the rest of the team was able to step up and secure two of three games in his absence.
He returned on Tuesday in the Miami Heat’s home game against the Atlanta Hawks, where he quickly asserted himself. He went for 21 points, five rebounds, and two assists on 5-11 shooting from the floor, 1-2 shooting from distance, and 10-15 shooting from the free-throw line.
While his free throw shooting and overall assertiveness were a welcomed sight to this Miami Heat lineup, team, and to Miami Heat faithful, that wasn’t the biggest takeaway one could make from Jimmy Butler’s presence on the floor. The chemistry, comfort, and peace that he seemingly brought to Tyler Herro and his game was apparent. So much so that it had fans touting the duo, even dubbing them the “Bucket Bros“, although they had already been dubbed as such by Five Reasons Sports Network.
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While it was readily apparent in Tyler Herro’s performance, his best as a pro and the best rookie performance by a Miami Heat player since Dwyane Wade, it was also apparent in how the team played as a unit. There was one play in particular that displayed it better than any other.
During a really impressive sequence of ball movement and teamwork on display, Jimmy Butler receives the ball and proceeds to drive to the basket. On a drive that would typically see Butler attempt to finish the layup on at least 80 percent of other times, he spotted an open Tyler Herro in the corner. He immediately kicked the ball out to Herro, although Herro didn’t shoot it but instead opted to kick it one more time to Kendrick Nunn who drained the open trey ball, but the play itself says a ton about Jimmy and Tyler’s bromance.
The videos, the posts, the Tyler Tuesdays, the wearing of his jersey, and everything else we have seen from Butler in support of his rookie teammate appears to be real, genuine, and legitimate. We have seen it in practices, during training camp, during the preseason, and now early on in the regular season as well.
It is good to see for a multitude of reasons. This attitude will definitely permeate throughout the rest of the team, which should then facilitate better chemistry and more wins. This is something that we love to see, while we are also looking forward to seeing a ton more of it.