Miami Heat star forward Jimmy Butler can’t explain how he is able to raise his level of play in the playoffs compared to the regular season.
“You mean how can I turn into the greatest basketball player in the world all of a sudden?” Butler told Bleacher Report. “I don’t know, man.”
The 34-year-old expressed that he and his teammates share a focus on winning games in the playoffs by any means necessary.
“I’m just different,” Butler said. “I think this is when you’re supposed to be playing your best basketball and you have to find a way to get your team to win these games when you’re talking about the playoffs coming around. But even right now, you’re getting everybody into their roles. You’re getting in a rhythm. And with my music, I’m getting in my rhythm. Speaking for myself and everybody else in this locker room, we want to win. That’s our focus.”
Finally, Butler said it doesn’t matter to him what nicknames fans use regarding his reputation for stepping his game up when it matters most.
“Whatever y’all want to call it, ‘Playoff Jimmy,’ or ‘that crazy motherf—– Emo Jimmy,’ I don’t care,” Butler said. “We’re good, man. I just wanna get into the playoffs — that’s it. We get into the playoffs, then we and I can take care of a lot. But I think us as a group, we’re going to be just fine.”
Butler had one of the better playoff series of any player in recent memory in the Heat’s matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the 2023 playoffs. He averaged an unbelievable 37.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game while shooting 59.7 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from 3-point range, and the Heat sent the Bucks home in five games.
The forward didn’t quite replicate his play against the Bucks in other playoff series during Miami’s improbable run to the NBA Finals, but he averaged 21-plus points per game in the Heat’s three other series, including 24.7 per game against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
A five-time All-NBA selection, Butler is now in his fifth season with the Heat and averaging 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game on 50.1 percent shooting from the floor and 44.0 percent from deep across 40 games played with the team in the 2023-24 regular season.
For the second season in a row, Butler missed out on the All-Star Game, as Bam Adebayo was the only member of the Heat selected to play in Indianapolis.
The Heat are fresh off a loss to the team that eliminated them in the 2023 NBA Finals in the Denver Nuggets. Butler dropped 21 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal in a game Miami lost by six points to fall to 33-26 on the season.
Butler’s quotes that he gave to Bleacher Report indicate that he is anticipating the start of the 2024 playoffs. The Heat are in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race right now, as the team sits as the No. 8 seed in the conference and is just a game and a half behind the No. 4 seed.