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Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat are headed to a second-round date with the New York Knicks, after ending the Milwaukee Bucks’ season on Wednesday night. Butler, once again, willed the Heat to a late-game comeback, erasing an 18-point deficit. The 33-year-old scored 14 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter, including a game-tying layup as time expired.
As Miami worked their way back into the game, Butler lost Jrue Holiday, slipping a screen to hit an easy layup. The make cut Milwaukee’s lead to just four with 2:36 left to play.
Once the shot went down Butler had some words for Holiday. As he ran back on defense, he got in Holiday’s face and told him “I own you.”
Unfortunately for the Bucks’ defensive stopper, Butler was right. According to NBA.com’s matchup tracking data, Holiday was the primary defender on the 33-year-old for 55.9 partial possessions. On those possessions he allowed Butler to score 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting. On top of that, the Heat as a team poured in 64 points while Holiday covered their No. 22.
Holiday was listed as the primary defender for Butler’s shot to send the game to overtime, as well as a go-ahead jumper in the extra period.
This wasn’t a one-off fluke performance from Butler either. He “owned” Holiday in Game 4 too. Of course, that was the night the veteran wing scored the fourth-most points in single-game playoff history with 56. The numbers were pretty similar to those of Game 5. Butler made 6-of-11 attempts while covered by Holiday for 18 points on 56.7 partial possessions.
Heat’s Jimmy Butler Knew He’d Beat Jrue Holiday on Game-Tying Shot
Butler’s tough layup at the end of regulation will likely go down as one of the more iconic playoff-moments in Heat history.
After the 128-126 win over the Bucks, he broke down his conversation with head coach Erik Spoelstra prior to the final play, where he told his coach that Holiday wouldn’t be able to stay with him.
“You could just tell the entire series, for that matter, that Jrue wasn’t taking a body off of me,” Butler said via the Jump View YouTube channel. “He wasn’t going to shoot the gap. He wasn’t going to do any of that. So I said, ‘I guarantee whenever I turn this corner, he’s going to be locking and trailing. He has no choice other than to be behind [me].’ [Spoelstra] trusted me in that moment, as he has done multiple times. Even when I told him I was going to shoot the three, the time before. He was just like, ‘Go ahead man, take us home.'”
Jimmy Butler Going to Get Ice Cream Ahead of Heat’s Second-Round Series
While Butler was purely cold-blooded against the Bucks. His plans for the break between series were rather wholesome.
During his walk-off interview, Jimmy the father explained that he’s going to get some ice cream with his daughter.
“I’m going to play with my daughter. I love her to death. I miss her. I’ve been away for a very long time. We’re going to get ice cream, we’re going to the park, we’re doing a lot of different stuff.”
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