The Miami Heat needed all of the Jimmy Butler they could get and on one night against Utah, it was too much for Utah to handle.
Jimmy Butler: 33-Point Near Triple-Double; Heat Defeat Jazz 124-116
In an eight-point win over the Utah Jazz on February 13th, the Heat received superstar-level play from their All-Star forward, Jimmy Butler. He lifted Miami up late in the fourth against one of the league’s top powerhouses.
Even with an 0-3 night from outside, Butler continued to play to his strengths, constantly attacking one of the league’s premier defenses. This included against elite rim-protector and Defensive Player of the Year candidate, Rudy Gobert.
Butler was using everything afforded to him at full capacity that evening. He had full control, fully utilizing screens, hitting open jumpers, converting runners, and most importantly of all, attacking to get to the foul line.
As Jimmy has shown to do since coming to Miami, this was all while keeping his teammates involved. In one of the Heat’s final possessions, Jimmy came up huge.
He was successful in fending off Mike Conley for a high-arching floater — giving Miami a four-point advantage with 33 seconds remaining. Butler finished with 10 rebounds, eight assists, and on 9-11 shooting from the free-throw line.
He was dominant that night and the Miami Heat needed every single bit of it. That’s been the case with all three of the mentioned showings.
When they happened, they were the reason that the Miami Heat were able to go on to do what they were able to do, whether that be win or compete at the highest of levels in a highly contested game.
Hopefully, a lot more of these types of games are in their futures.