With a 7-12 record, it’s suffice to say that the Miami Heat have not gotten off to a great start this season. While NBA analysts have already written off the franchise from making it to the 2021 playoffs, it’s hard to fairly judge a team that has been ravaged by COVID-19, and playing for three weeks without its superstar Jimmy Butler.
After missing 10 games, Butler returned to the court on January 30 and ended the Heat’s losing streak. The five-time All-Star showed no signs of rust after not playing since January 9 and helped Miami eke out a win against the Sacramento Kings 105-104.
The 31-year-old played 34 minutes on Saturday night, scoring a season-high 30 points, along with eight assists and seven rebounds. As for whether or not Heat fans can expect the team to keep winning, Butler has no doubt.
“I figured I was going to come back and we were going to win,” Butler said.
Jimmy Butler back on a basketball court.
You love to see it.
“We’re going to build off of this,” Butler said. “So much to get better at, but we can do it. We’re going to turn this around. We’ve just got to go out there and do our job. It starts now.”
Coach Spo Struggled to Name All the Positives of Having Butler Back
Back like he never left.
After beating the Kings, Heat’s head coach Erik Spoelstra gave much of the credit to Jimmy Buckets, admiring his unceasing drive to make winning happen. Butler notched the final score of the game to bring Miami out on top.
“You simply cannot put a modern-day analytic to Jimmy’s will to win,” Spoelstra said. “That’s just iron will. He was not going to let us lose, no matter what it took.”
It wasn’t just Coach Spo singing Butler’s praises, his teammates are also thrilled to have Butler back on the court. Tyler Herro, who scored 15 points on Saturday night said post-game, “The Heat is back on. It’s just a steppingstone, just one box that we checked, finally got a win. It was great to have our leader back out there.”
When @Bam1of1 sees a game winning attempt coming…
Forget it. #NBAAllStar
Bam Adebayo, who scored 18 points with 13 rebounds against the Kings, sounded like a whole new man after the team finally nabbed a win. He said, “The sun is coming back. We’ve got to keep the sun out, keep fighting, keep playing hard, so we can get back to the Heat that made it to the Finals.”
Even the Heat’s opponents had to give props to Butler. “Great player,” Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes said. “He definitely gives that team a different look, a different lift.”
Butler Notched His 10,000 Score In the First Half of the Heat Vs. Kings Game
Buckets and lots of them.
Congrats on 10k, @JimmyButler 👏👏👏
Butler didn’t need any time warming back up on the court. He went off in the first half, scoring 20 points on 6-of-13 from the field and 8-of-8 from the foul line — a performance that catapulted Butler into reaching a new milestone in his NBA career — scoring 10,000 points.
In the third quarter, Butler recorded his fourth rebound, which brought his career rebound record to 3,000.
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Heat Star Jimmy Butler Is Back: ‘We’re Going to Turn This Around’