The Miami Heat were able to get a win against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, but the attitude and demeanor of Jimmy Butler is what really got us fired up.
The Miami Heat knew they were going into a hostile environment on Wednesday night. The Indiana Pacers are a conference foe, a team that hopes to get themselves in contention in the East, a team that has been beaten by Miami already this year and just 12 days before Wednesday’s game, and somewhat of a rival dating back to the Big 3 era of the Miami Heat. This was surely a contest that they wanted to win and one that had the potential to get chippy.
“Get chippy” it did indeed. Before we get into that part, here is what one Miami Heat Legend(*Hint: The greatest one of all time) had to say after seeing or hearing of the incident.
https://twitter.com/DwyaneWade/status/1215093206859141120
We concur Flash! It was that type of energy in the building and a somewhat similar result. The Miami Heat would win the game by a really decent margin.
What we took from the game other than the results though were certain observations surrounding Jimmy Butler‘s scrum with T.J. Warren. Here is the aftermath in case you have to research or refresh.
Jimmy Butler and T. J. Warren exchange words at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, eventually leading to Warren's ejection.#HEATTwitter #NBA pic.twitter.com/sDoLKEi3tn
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) January 9, 2020
We aren’t condoning physical altercation at all here, as you never want to see real fighting in sports. What we are saying though, is that the mentality that Jimmy Butler displayed leading up too, throughout, and in the aftermath of that incident is exactly what we want to see.
Jimmy Butler is the leader of this Miami Heat team, a team that has traditionally and outside of the Big 3 era, been underdogs. Jimmy Butler has been an underdog traditionally throughout his career and even after reaching the level of stardom he has, while this Heat team also has quite a few underdogs throughout the rest of the roster as well.
People thought that this Heat team wouldn’t be much this year, while they also thought that Jimmy Butler was coming to Miami to do everything except compete for and win titles. This is the type of stuff, along with the winning and record to prove it of course, that shows everyone else that the Miami Heat are for real.
This also shows that they aren’t too be tested, as they go as their leader goes, and he is always ready to and on “go”. Not that anyone ever would confuse and accuse the Miami Heat of being “soft”, but this shows that they are also not to be messed with.
Again, while we don’t and aren’t encouraging physical violence or fighting of any sort, we can appreciate Jimmy’s mentality here. You are not going to attack, impede, or impose yourself on me in any kind of way and think that it’s just “ok”. He and this Miami Heat team are clearly fine with letting you know that and we just love to see it!