Jimmy Butler, Game Three Struggles to Game Four Showcase

“We’ll bounce back.”

That was what Jimmy Butler had to say after a tough game three performance. He knows what this Miami Heat team is capable of, but more importantly he knows what he is capable of.

Some may say that Butler wasn’t himself in game three, but maybe he was just too much like himself. Being the unselfish teammate that he is, relying on co-stars Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic. He loves getting these guys going from the jump, since he continually says that’s how they win games.

There’s no denying that, but ultimately these guys can’t carry the entire load for three and a half quarters every game. Even Jimmy realized that, saying “We put too much pressure on Bam to always be there, he can’t save us every single game.”

Even though many people want Jimmy to just go out there and try and score every time he gets the ball, that’s just not him. What he can do though, which he didn’t do in game three, is bring an immense amount of intensity and energy. He didn’t even have the same fire on the defensive end. Just a lot of standing around, which led to a bunch of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown drives to the basket.

And it definitely isn’t easy to just bring a great amount of energy every game without fans. They must try and find a spark themselves, which will start with Jimmy Butler. It’s simple, if Jimmy has it, the whole team has it.

And it seems as if he will have it on Wednesday. He mentioned that “It gets old playing from behind consistently,” so it’ll be interesting to see how Jimmy adjusts.

That game three loss may have been the best thing that could’ve happened to this Heat team. Although they ended up getting the win in games one and two, they didn’t play particularly well for most of the game. This loss gives them a clear indication of what they must do to close out this series. Erik Spoelstra knows it. Jimmy Butler knows it. The whole team knows it.

And once again, it’s now time for Jimmy to prove why he came to Miami. Not by scoring 40 points, but by being the most energetic and best floor general that he can be.

As much as people want to critique Jimmy’s game, he’s currently 10-2 in the postseason playing this way. He must be doing something right.

Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) is a frequent contributor to Five on the Floor platforms. If you want to sponsor his or anyone else’s work at Five Reasons Sports, reach out to Sales@FiveReasonsSports.com