The Miami Heat had a not-so-great showing on Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks. Though they had beaten them twice in the past week or so, they were unable to capitalize on a huge comeback attempt that came up just short at the end of the game.
In the midst of it all, one guy‘s performance has really been criticized by fans and observers everywhere. That would be Jimmy Butler— the Miami Heat’s best player.
That’s something to shelve for now though as you look back at the performance or the specific plays in question that are drawing the ire of the masses. With two opportunities to help the Miami Heat secure a huge comeback win, Jimmy Butler proceeded to have two of his worst plays of the season.
The first was an opportunity to put the Miami Heat up one with 22 seconds remaining in the game.
On a play drawn up perfectly by his head coach, Erik Spoelstra, off of a perfectly placed Bam Adebayo lob throw, Jimmy Butler would mistime his step or his jump after perfectly timing the initial run of the screen to free him up.
Though he should still sink this opportunity more times than he shouldn’t, regardless, the timing issue on the gather led to him having a really bad angle on the finish, it appeared.
The Miami Heat dropped a tough game on Friday that they could have won and as a result, Jimmy Butler seems to be the target of frivolous flim-flam.
Again, a player of Jimmy’s ilk should convert there, somehow and someway, but he couldn’t. See for yourself.
Jimmy Butler missed a bucket that could’ve put the Heat up late in the game. pic.twitter.com/9e3iHKZIa3
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 22, 2022
The second play was the final play of the game. After Trae Young would gift the Heat a missed free throw, after being fouled following the first Jimmy Butler missed attempt, the Miami Heat would have another chance to get a play drawn up by their head coach, a brilliant after timeout play-caller.
The final play of the game would end up being a contested Butler three-pointer from the far side corner. Plain and simple, it wasn’t a great shot, especially for a guy who hasn’t shot the deep ball well this season or since he’s been with Miami, for that matter.
Jimmy Butler can't get the go-ahead 3 to go, and the Heat lose in Atlanta 110-108.
— Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) January 22, 2022
Heat were down 16 with 9:16 to play, down by 11 with 4 minutes left, and come up just short of the comeback.@MiamiHEAT | #HEATCulture pic.twitter.com/XWQoCImDlb
Even with all that though there’s one thing that stands above all else. Jimmy Butler is still the best player on this Miami Heat team.
There is no doubt about that. He is still a top 10 to 15 performer in the NBA right now.
He is also still the guy that helped lead them to the NBA Finals a few years back, going toe to toe with LeBron James in the process, the man that might be the GOAT. Basically, he is still Jimmy F’n Buckets.
He’ll still be a huge part of whatever the Miami Heat are able to do this season, which is probably a strong chance to win a title, even. So, while he should’ve had a better performance on Friday night, please don’t kid yourselves out there.
Jimmy Butler is still that dude. Literally, put some respect on his name.