The success of Jimmy Butler and the Heat is an interpretation of hard work basketball.
Since his student days, the most profound words of anyone who has crossed paths with him have always been: "No one should work harder than him." "This is also the key to his ability to forge ahead all the way and become the world's first league superstar."
A man with a face and hairstyle like Butler, you can say that he is tough and masculine, or you can say that he is not good-looking. But in any case, now it seems that Butler's appearance and his style of play are simply too matched. What is important is that Butler's value lies in the all-round attack and defense, although the arm span is not outstanding, but the confrontation, physical fitness are strengths, defense is both aggressive and intelligent, one-on-one single defense ability is extremely strong, there is a high steal rate at the same time to ensure less fouls.
His world is incomprehensible to ordinary people, and his unrulyness is regarded as poison by ordinary people. But in fact, it is just his desire to take himself as the core and shape the ideal presentation of a team with championship obsession. And that's why Butler chose the hot team, Miami's team culture is hard work, and when they finally come together, the dominance of the South Coast and Butler's influence on the league amaze everyone. Now on the list of league influence, you can see his name, and under his leadership, the Heat team has become the biggest dark horse in the East and even the championship.
Even stronger than the heat team two years ago.
At the time, they were led by Butler, first losing four straight games to the Pacers in the playoffs, then the gentlemen swept the League's number one Bucks, and then defeated the Green Army in the Eastern Conference. In the final battle, the Heat and lakers fought to 6 games, and finally lost due to poor strength.
The biggest reason for this is the depth of the lineup, in the case of Dragic can not play due to injury, the key moment is only Butler's attacker. While he did a good job, he scored 40 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists in game three and 35 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and five steals in game five. But still two fists were difficult to defeat four hands, and the heat team fell at the last moment.
So in the offseason, the Heat, after renewing Butler and Duncan Robinson with high salaries, also brought in Lowry and P.J. Tucker at a high price, which can be called the number one buyer in the league. It also means that general manager Pat Riley announced to the whole league that the Heat want to win now and launch an assault on the championship.
The Heat team started the season and started the whole process. Butler averaged 25 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists in his first seven games, and the Win Contribution (WS) was 1.6 league first. Hiro averaged 22.4 points per game as the league's no. 1 bench scorer, and Adebayor regained the status of the first small-ball center in the East, not only averaging 20+10 per game, but also reducing the opponent's shooting rate by 21.8%, which is also the first in the league.
In the end, lowry's arrival is like the last piece of the puzzle to make up for the complete system of the hot team. His three-point shooting percentage last season was 40 percent. And he is also a defensive master in the number one position, tougher than Dragic and Nunn. Of course, the most important strategic significance of the small steel cannon is also that it organizes the offense so that Butler can focus more on scoring, and this season Butler still averaged 21.4 points per game. The Heat have been chasing Lowry, but have never found a suitable way to trade.
In the first seven matches, the Heat team won 6 wins and 1 loss. They beat the Bucks by 42 points and took the Nets lightly on the road, showing a terrifying sense of oppression. Although there was an injury stop with the main star in the middle, there was a period of slump, and the Bulls and Nets took the throne of the first place in the East, but the Heat team quickly eased up and regained the lost ground.
The Heat had a 14-8 record without Adebayor and an 11-4 record without Adebayor and Butler, and all of a sudden, the Heat looked like a team that could and most likely make the playoffs to the end. And now the Heat's lineup is getting more and more neat.
The Heat's paint protection did a good job, in part because they had strong wingers like Tucker and Butler who contracted defense the closer the ball got to the basket, and that worked: The Heat conceded just 14.8 points per game on the inside, the fewest in the league.
The Heat, meanwhile, are one of only two teams — the other with the best record in the league , the Sun — with the league's top seven offensive, defensive and net ratings. They have 13 key wins (against the top five teams), 14 away wins (second-most in the league) and a league-high 15 wins over teams with a 50% or more win rate.
They built the perfect shooter, organizing player and all-around defender for the playoffs, including the tall Adebayor, whose presence cannot be ignored under any circumstances and who, in any case, is one of the most capable defensive brothers in the league.
Butler believes the Heat have every chance to break through expectations: "Our ceiling is a championship, and I don't care what other people say. Butler said, "The team where the stars join forces, we can get them, because we are united, we can play defensive intensity, play our own offense, and we have enough strength in the top five of the league at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends." ”
Typical Jimmy-style speech, let's wait and see!