The Hawks got a first-hand lesson in Game 2 on what Jimmy Butler can do when he wants to take over a game. Butler’s teammates already knew.
“Crazy,” Bam Adebayo said. “We see that in pickup ball all the time. He’ll take over pickup, and I don’t know if he wants to save it for the playoffs. I’m happy he does.”
Butler’s 45 points led Miami to their second straight victory over Atlanta, giving the Heat a chance to clinch the series quickly when they travel to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday.
“I was excited for him,” Tyler Herro said. “It was a playoff-Jimmy type of performance.”
Butler has been a big-time contributor in Heat playoff runs. In the 2020 postseason, his first with Miami, he averaged 22 points, 6.5 rebounds and six assists across 21 games. In the Heat’s Finals loss to the Lakers, he registered 26.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game.
“You can tell what type of talent he really is in that playoff atmosphere,” Adebayo said. “Gutting out a win and just being the focal point. He’s playing some of the best basketball besides when he was in the Finals.”
If Butler was worn out from his dominant performance on Tuesday, he didn’t let his coach know.
“He doesn’t tell me that. No,” Erik Spoelstra said. “He would never say that to me. I’ve seen him take his body to levels that very few in this profession have gone to, particularly in the Finals. He took himself to the brink.
“But that’s what kind of competitor he is. He’s in elite shape. He really dedicates himself to making sure he’s physically ready to be able to handle big responsibility, a lot of minutes, two-way basketball. That’s not something you can just turn on. That’s 12 months of work every year for years.”
Heat respond to Trae Young’s complaints
Hawks star Trae Young said after Game 2 that he thought the officials were being too lenient with the Heat.
“If the refs are going to let them be as physical as they are and not call fouls, I mean it’s going to be hard to really do anything, anyway,” Young said.
But Adebayo said Thursday he didn’t think the referees were letting his team get away with anything.
“I had four fouls,” Adebayo said. “P.J. was in foul trouble. … You’ve got two starters in foul trouble, so I don’t know how the refs are letting us get away with it if I’m sitting the whole third and P.J. didn’t play the majority of the fourth.”
Spoelstra compliments retiring Villanova coach
Villanova coach Jay Wright shocked the basketball world on Wednesday when he announced his retirement after 21 seasons as the Wildcats’ coach.
Spoelstra worked with the two-time national champion as Team USA got ready for the Olympics in 2021, and Spoelstra said he quickly took a liking to Wright.
“I love Jay. I was really happy to get to know him this summer,” Spoelstra said. “Quickly became one of my favorite guys in this profession. He’s just very normal. He’s humble. He’s had as much success as anybody in this profession. He’s a Hall of Famer, and yet you can just hang out with him and get lunch and you just feel like you’re talking to a normal guy. There’s no pretense to him or ego or anything.”
Wright, who has a career record of 642-282, is a two-time Naismith College Coach of the Year and a Basketball Hall of Famer. He led Villanova to the Final Four last season. Villanova announced that Wright would be a special assistant to the university’s president.
“I’m surprised like everybody, and I’m just happy that he’s able to make a decision like this with decisiveness,” Spoelstra said. “And whatever he has planned next, he’s a special human being, so he’s going to find happiness in whatever he’s doing.”
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