What I saw at Jimmy Butler's return game against the Heat might come as a surprise

I was curious what Miami Heat fans would do.

Would they cheer?

Would they boo?

I put out a poll. A majority said they would cheer when Jimmy Butler was introduced in his return to Miami.

I was there at Kaseya Center on Tuesday night. Here’s a running diary of what I saw.

A running diary of Jimmy Butler's return. Here's what happened.

• We start with the tribute video. Butler stands up and waves to the crowd… and he is booed. Not by everyone. There’s a smattering of No. 22 Butler jerseys and people who came to see him or the Warriors. But I would describe it as closer to 50-50.

• Pre-tipoff. Butler daps up Alec Burks but nobody else. Butler and Bam Adebayo don’t even look at each other. Tyler Herro and Butler ignore each other. Nothing. Nada. OK, message received. 

• Boom! The dunk! Adebayo spins by Draymond Green, Butler slides over to protect the rim and meets Bam at the apex of his jump. Then Bam slams it over Butler’s outstretched arm with both hands. The crowd loses its mind.

• The crowd is booing Butler every time he touches the ball. When he brings the ball up, they are relentless. 

• Bam is defending Butler on nearly every possession. This is cinema.

• Butler gets called for a five-second violation while inbounding in front of the Heat bench. An uncharacteristic mistake. You don’t think the gravity of the moment is affecting him, do you?

• Butler has the ball on the fastbreak but Andrew Wiggins knocks it away. Bam recovers the ball to end the scoring chance. The crowd loves it.

• The Heat were up by as many as 20 points in the third quarter but the Warriors cut the lead to eight with a minute left in the period. Herro splits a double-team en route to a floater and, on the next possession, finds Davion Mitchell for an open 3 from the corner. Lead back to 13 going into the fourth. Big-time stuff from Herro.

• It’s a blowout. Both teams clear their bench. Pat Spencer just checked in for the Warriors. Pelle Larsson victory cigar for the Heat. We’re done here.

• Final buzzer. Butler gets up from the bench, says hi to a couple of his friends sitting nearby, and walks straight to the visitor’s locker room. If the goal was to treat his former teammates like someone begging for money at a stoplight, mission accomplished. No eye contact. No interaction whatsoever. Just in and out as quickly as possible. 

If the goal was to show the Heat what they’re missing… not so much.

Our final score: Miami 112, Golden State 86. Five relevant stats for tonight:

–Adebayo’s final line: 27 points on 9 of 18 shooting, eight rebounds, one assist

–Butler’s line: 11 points on 5 of 12 shooting, six rebounds, two assists

–Herro’s line: 20 points, seven assists

–Wiggins’ line: 10 points, five rebounds, five assists, two steals, three blocks

–Warriors who took more shots than Butler: Mosey Moody (13) and Brandin Podziemski (16). 

And there it is. The return is out of the way. The Jimmy Butler saga is over. The Heat have won two straight but, more importantly, won the biggest game of their season. They met the moment and played with pride. Players can say this was just another game. It wasn’t.