Jimmy Butler finally showed up when the Miami Heat needed him most, but it wasn’t quite in time. Still, head coach Erik Spoelstra says "there's no regret, We ran up against a team that was just better than us in this series".
Tuesday 13 June 2023 08:14, UK
Jimmy Butler finally showed up, but it wasn’t quite in time. Practically invisible for three quarters, Butler almost single-handedly saved his team by finally finding his touch in the fourth.
But after carrying them past the powerful Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics during a stunning run through the Eastern Conference, Butler couldn't guide them beyond the Denver Nuggets.
The 33-year-old watched as confetti fell and Nikola Jokic and his team-mates celebrated after capturing their first championship with a 94-89 win on Monday night in Game Five of the NBA Finals.
"Sometimes it's just not your time," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra lamented. "But what I can tell you, we're all hard-wired to compete for the ultimate prize."
Butler scored 13 of his 21 points in the final quarter after struggling most of the night. He had all but five of Miami's points in the fourth quarter, but also played his part in a missed jumper from deep that would have tied the game at 92-92.
"That I turned the ball over. That's what stood out," Butler said of the final two minutes, when the Heat made their surge.
His takeaway, though, was how he and a bunch of undrafted players made it all the way to the NBA Finals, came back on the road against Boston in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference finals after squandering a 3-0 lead, and gave the Nuggets all they could handle in 20-year veteran Udonis Haslem's last game.
"I'm grateful to be able to compete with these guys," Butler said. "You never know what the team is going to look like next year, the year after that. I'm just grateful. I learned so much. They taught me so much. I wish I could have got it done for these guys because they definitely deserve it."
"This is a team that a lot of people can relate to - if you ever felt that you were dismissed or felt that you were made to feel less than," Spoelstra added "We had a lot of people in our locker room that probably have had that, and there's probably a lot of people out there that have felt that at some time or another."
"But also the way this team handled setbacks and adversity, to develop a collective grit and perseverance."
In the end, the clock struck midnight in the Mile High City for the Heat, just the second No 8 seed to reach the Finals. Butler, Bam Adebayo (20 points, 12 rebounds) and crew gave it their best shot. They simply ran out of gas.
"I'll speak for everybody in our locker room and the organization - congratulations to the Denver Nuggets organization," Spoelstra said. "They are a class act and they are one hell of a basketball team. One hell of a basketball team that we couldn't really find enough solutions to be able to get us over the top."
Playing swarming, end-to-end defense, the Heat made things difficult on the Nuggets. They made sure Jamal Murray didn't have a moment's peace. They made sure Jokic had multiple players around him whenever he touched the ball.
The Serbian international still finished with 28 points and 16 rebounds, earning the NBA Finals MVP.
"There's no regret from our side," Spoelstra was quick to say.
"Everybody - staff, players alike - in the locker room put themselves out there and put themselves into the team, whatever was best for the team. And the tough pill to swallow is it just wasn't good enough. We ran up against a team that was just better than us in this series."
