Miami Heat star forward Jimmy Butler doesn’t seem to have any qualms about attempting a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the team’s loss to the Washington Wizards, even though he missed the shot and Miami could have tied the game by scoring inside the 3-point line.
Wizards stun the Heat as Duncan & Jimmy can't hit the game winner pic.twitter.com/u5RPntEFCc
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) March 11, 2024
Butler succinctly explained to the media why he doesn’t regret taking the final shot of the game from deep.
Jimmy Butler on the final shot:
“I’m never going for the tie. Ever.” pic.twitter.com/tmpln0HAlU
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) March 11, 2024
This isn’t the first time that the forward has made headlines for missing a 3-pointer late in a game. Butler missed a shot from deep in the waning moments of the Heat’s Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics in the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals.
The Celtics won the deciding Game 7 but lost to Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
Butler is shooting the ball with great accuracy from 3-point range this season, as he is converting a career-high 42.5 percent of his shots from deep on 2.4 attempts per game. But Butler’s 3-point shot wasn’t falling against the Wizards, considering he failed to make a single one of his four attempts from behind the arc.
The 34-year-old ended up with 23 points, three rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block on 9-of-20 shooting from the field.
The Heat lost to one of the NBA’s worst teams on Sunday. While the Wizards are now riding a two-game winning streak, they own just an 11-53 record on the season, the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference ahead of only the Detroit Pistons.
To add insult to injury, Miami has now lost three games in a row after coming up just short against the Wizards. The Heat also lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 8 and Dallas Mavericks on March 7, with both losses coming by single digits.
Butler and the Heat will aim to snap their losing streak on Wednesday night against the team that eliminated them in the 2023 NBA Finals in the Denver Nuggets.
