On April 25, Beijing time, in an NBA playoff game that ended today, the Heat defeated the Hawks 110-86, with the victory of this game, the Heat are currently leading 3-1, and the first in the East to advance to the next series, it seems that it is only a matter of time. The key player who helped the Heat play absolute dominance in the first round of the series was the star Jimmy Butler.
In this game, Heat player Jimmy Butler played 36 minutes, 12 of 21 shots, including 1 of 2 three-pointers, 11 of 12 free throws, 36 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 1 block, almost no one could stop, and this was Butler's third single-game 35+10 game in the Heat playoffs, tying Dwayne Wade, ranking second in Heat history, and in front of them was LeBron James's 5 times.
It is worth mentioning that in the fourth quarter, when Butler stepped onto the free throw line, the Eagles home fans gave him an MVP shout. Obviously, no one knows the despair that Butler brings them better than the Hawks fans, and no one knows better than the Hawks how strong Butler is in this series.
After the game, the famous statistics media StatMuse posted a set of Regular Season and Playoff data comparisons for Butler this season, in which only the average number of assists per game decreased slightly, and all other data improved comprehensively. In the regular season, he averaged 21.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, and in the playoffs, he averaged 30.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game, and it should be noted that Butler's average shooting rate was as high as 54.3% per game and his three-point shooting rate was as high as 43.8%, which can be said to have completely entered the offensive rhythm without dead ends.
Butler's performance even conquered Lakers celebrity Magic Johnson, who couldn't help but give Butler a compliment after the game: "Once again, Jimmy Butler did a great job, he got 36 points and 10 rebounds to help the team win the Hawks and take a 3-1 lead." Many fans also said that Butler is simply the ultimate version of Iguodala, the typical regular season pretending to be dead, playing, and in the playoffs, it begins to show its fangs and show its real strength.
And seeing Butler play such a performance, perhaps no Lakers will regret the original decision. Before the 2020 Lakers and Heat Finals, according to reporter Kyle Goon at the time, after getting Anthony Davis through a trade in the summer of 2019, the Lakers had discussed signing free agent Jimmy Butler, but in the end, the Lakers did not meet with Butler, and Butler also joined the Heat by signing first and then changing shortly after the free market started.
Although Butler later said in an interview that he did not consider the Lakers, he most wanted to join the Heat, but in fact, as early as 2018, there was a lot of news exposed that Butler was willing to join forces with James in the Lakers, when Butler was still in the Timberwolves, according to the "Open-air Stand Network" reporter Eric Pincus reported at the time, Butler was "open to the idea of joining james". Eric Pincus tweeted: "According to sources familiar with Butler, he was open to leaving the Timberwolves for Los Angeles to play with James. ”
Therefore, it can be said that if the Lakers were willing to pursue Butler strongly, they should have a high probability of getting this superstar. But in the end, two reasons led to Butler's failure to go to the Lakers, one was that the Heat expressed enough sincerity to impress Butler. The other is that the Lakers did not act in time to wait for Leonard, and that summer the Lakers completely delayed the best reinforcement time in order to wait for Leonard.
Think about it, if the Lakers had not been so greedy and directly chose to form a combination of James + Butler + Davis, perhaps they could continue to participate in the playoffs now, and may even have achieved two consecutive championships.