He was named in the All-NBA Second Team in 2023 after being previously selected to the third team on four occasions.Īnd after winning the Eastern Conference finals MVP in the Heat’s dramatic 4-3 series win over the Boston Celtics, Butler had another shot at the NBA Finals, only to be denied by an inspired Denver Nuggets team. Jimmy Butler is a seasoned veteran on his fourth NBA team, but it is not getting any easier to stop him.īest known for his spells with the franchise which drafted him, the Chicago Bulls, and his current team, the Miami Heat, Butler has also played for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers.īutler has led Miami to the NBA Finals twice and taken his own game to new heights in the process. With what we know "Jimmy Buckets" can do against LeBron, a matchup with Indiana and George looks like a walk in the park.In the midst of another memorable run with the Miami Heat, we’re looking at the best statistical games in the NBA career of Jimmy Butler. Per , he's shot under 50 percent in 55 of them. They've lost 92 games in the "Big Three" era. Aside from a transition layup in the first quarter, Butler contested every shot James took against him with either a hand or a body.įorcing James into an off shooting night appears to be Miami's kryptonite. including 3-for-27 shooting outside paintīut the guy still has shot more free throws than all but seven players this season.īutler deserves credit for finding the perfect balance between getting up in James' face and backing off to avoid fouls. Hard to process: LeBron averaging just 19.3 PPG on 39% shooting since his 61-point eruption. Now, James was uncharacteristically reluctant to attack the basket against Chicago and has been for the past few games. (The Spurs did hold him without a free throw attempt in Game 3 of the 2013 Finals.) LeBron James didn't attempt a free throw in today's loss to the Bulls, snapping a 332-game streak with a FT attempt. He and the rest of Chicago's defense did something to James that hadn't been done since his Cleveland days: Kawhi Leonard in a LeBron Stop-Off next ASW. He has cemented himself as one of James' three biggest adversaries on defense: James came within one rebound and two assists of a triple-double on Sunday. He also made just one basket upon re-entering a tied game with 6:33 left in the fourth quarter and one more in overtime, despite taking nine shots. Chicago outscored the Heat 21-14 in that span.īutler's confidence when guarding James is the highest its ever been, and it showed. To him, it's just another day at the office. Still, "limiting" James offensively is the only way to get the upper hand on Miami over an entire series.īutler did quite a job of that on Sunday. It's only happened in the same series twice-by Dallas in the 2011 Finals and San Antonio in last year's Finals. In 67 playoff games with the Heat, James has only been "limited" to 20 points or less on 50 percent or less shooting from the field 11 times, according to. And as heroic as Butler's efforts were on James in last year's playoffs, he'll have to be better. Should that reality come to pass, the Butler-James dynamic jumps to the forefront. John Hollinger's Playoff Odds have Miami taking the top overall seed in the East and the Bulls finishing fourth. But with Miami and the Pacers hitting respective rough patches, and Chicago just two games back of Toronto in the loss column, there's a legitimate chance of another Bulls-Heat playoff series.
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