“I like competition. This is where the best players show themselves and shine, “said Jimmy Butler, who disgusted Milwaukee by scoring 56 points to allow Miami, however long led, to win (119-114), Monday in NBA playoffs. “I’m not saying I’m one of those best players, but I want to be seen as one. I just want to enter the field being competitive and do everything I can to help my team win, like all my teammates, ”he immediately tempered.
His feat of the day, certainly the most remarkable of his career, places him in 4th position in the ranking of the most prolific players in NBA history for a play-off game behind Michael Jordan (63 pts), Elgin Baylor ( 61 pts) and Donovan Mitchell (57 pts).
His new personal best is also that of the Heat in the final phase of the championship, a team which has included illustrious champions such as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal in the past. Butler was keen to point out the collective effort behind his performance. “A lot of my shots went in tonight, because my teammates kept giving me the ball and telling me to attack. When you have teammates like that, things go well. This success is the result of complete teamwork. I know everyone only sees the 56 points, but if my teammates aren’t looking to give me the ball, if they aren’t setting me good screens that allow me to go right or left or on the free throw line, it would have been very different,” he explained.
Led by 14 units at the start of the fourth quarter, the Heat were able to count on 21 points from their star to reverse the situation, passing in front of the score for the first time at 3 min 17 sec from the end, before knocking them out. Bucks. What changed the game in this crucial period according to him, “is that some bad shots still entered it”. “That’s what made the difference. But that’s the game. It’s a game of shots and highlights. We resisted theirs, then we had ours and we were able to go to the end”, he summarized.