Jimmy Butler keen to go further down the road in first-round playoffs: ‘We just have to go out there and win as hard as we can’

Last Updated on 05/01/2023 by てんしょく飯

The Miami Heat defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, the team with the highest winning percentage in the league this season, in the first round of the playoffs to advance to the conference semi-finals.

Big man Jimmy Butler seems to have the best trust with his teammates. Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press reported.

After the play-in tournament, the Heat were awarded the eighth seed in the East and faced the Bucks in the first round of the play-offs. After winning the first game 130-117 in hostile territory, they dropped the following game, but won the next two games at home to win three straight and advance to the conference semi-finals with a 4-1 series record. It was the sixth time in history that an eighth seed had beaten a top seed.

Butler averaged 37.6 points, 59.7% field goal success rate and 44.4% three-point success rate in the series. He was the team’s top scorer in every game, scoring 56 points in Game 4 on 25 April (local time), a play-off career high and tied for fourth in play-off history, and 42 points in the deciding Game 5.

Team HC (head coach) Erik Spoelstra said: ‘He puts his soul into basketball. To keep expending energy physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually against winning, you need to recharge your batteries. If you don’t, you’ll burn out. Once he was able to refresh his head, I think it was one of the most productive things he’s done”, while his colleague Kyle Laurie added: “Jimmy is a talented player. He’s willing to get on the court and take on all the challenges given to him by his opponents. I’m always going to be working with Jimmy” and had absolute faith in the ace.

Butler himself added: “My teammates keep telling me to ‘shoot more’ and ‘attack’. Whether I’m scoring, passing, defending or rebounding, I just have to do my best to win,” he revealed, “I have a great group of guys and a great family. We’re an excellent group and we always enjoy the game. If you play right you get good results,” he said, explaining the reason for the virtuous cycle.

The conference semi-finals, which begin on 1 May (30 April), are against the New York Knicks. Butler will once again lead the team strongly.