Getty Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat.
Jimmy Butler, who has consistently risen to the occasion for the Miami Heat in the playoffs, said he doesn’t “give a damn” about the fact that the Heat are entering the postseason as an underdog rather than a high seed.
“It’s all the same,” he told reporters, via “Locked on Heat” host Wes Goldberg. “Nobody picked us to win last year, so who cares? Y’all not gonna pick us to win this year. Don’t give a damn. In 10 years, y’all still not gonna pick us. Still don’t give a damn.”
The No. 7 Heat will host the No. 8-seeded Atlanta Hawks on April 11 in the first game of the Play-In Tournament, which runs through April 14. The winner of the game will play the No. 2-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The loser will get another shot by playing the winner of the April 12 Play-In game between the and No. 9 Toronto Raptors and No. 10 Chicago Bulls.
In three playoff runs with the Heat, Butler has averaged 23.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game while shooting 47.9% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc. Butler’s next-level intensity in the postseason has helped Miami reach two Eastern Conference finals in three years and an NBA Finals berth in 2020.
Heat’s Bam Adebayo Sounds Off on Hawks Ahead of Play-In
Heat center Bam Adebayo also gave some insight into the team’s matchup against Atlanta, saying that his team needs to be ready for a squad with “nothing left to lose.”
“The hardest teams to beat are the ones who have nothing left to lose, backs against the wall,” Adebayo said, via the Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman. “And I feel like they’re coming in here thinking of an underdog mentality. And the things we need to do are not just X’s and O’s. It’s the little stuff — ball in the air, ball on the floor, 50-50 balls, and being the more dominant team.”
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra shared a similar message, telling the press that he expects a competitive game from this Hawks team.
“It’s not like you can expect just to come in here with an average game,” Spoelstra said. “You have teams that are not that far apart in the overall standings. And it should be competitive. And I want that to bring out the best in us.”
Kendrick Perkins Predicts Heat to Cause Problems in First-Round
Should the Heat get past the Hawks in the April 11 Play-In matchup, then they’d be slated to face the No. 2 seed Boston Celtics, who eliminated them in the Eastern Conference finals last season.
Former Celtic champion Kendrick Perkins recently predicted that Miami would cause problems for Boston should the two meet in the first round.
“Here’s what I am concerned about,” Perkins said on the April 7 episode of ESPN’s “First Take.” “If the Miami Heat get the No. 7 seed, they’re going to match up with the Boston Celtics, which I believe is going to happen. We saw what happened last year when they went toe-to-toe in the conference finals. They were a Jimmy Butler three-pointer away from getting sent home, and I’m talking about the Celtics. If I’m the Celtics, I’m praying that I don’t see Jimmy Butler, playoff Jimmy Butler, and the Miami Heat in the first round. If I’m the Celtics, I’m praying that I don’t have to see Erik Spoelstra matched up with Joe Mazzulla in the first round, when it comes down to making adjustments.”