For a brief moment on Saturday night, Miami Heat superstar Jimmy Butler looked like the hero that just punched his team’s ticket to the NBA Finals when he hit three free throws to give the Heat a one-point lead with just seconds left on the clock. Unfortunately for Butler and the Heat, things took a quick turn as the Celtics clinched a Game 7 with a late buzzer-beating putback.
After the game, Jimmy Butler had a pretty blunt assessment of the brutal turn of events, calling it “basketball at its finest.”
“[That’s] basketball for you, basketball at its finest — very, very, very entertaining,” Butler said according to ESPN. “But that’s good basketball. I think, I believe, as we all do, like you’re going to get the same test until you pass it, I swear. We were in this same position last year. We can do it. I know that we will do it. We’ve got to go on the road and win in a very, very, very tough environment.”
Butler was also quick to point out that if he had simply played better throughout the game, the Heat wouldn’t have even been in that situation.
“Everything that happened tonight, if I don’t go 5-for-21 and turn the ball over and all of this good stuff, it’s a different story,” he said. “I’ve got on a different hat up here and we’re getting ready to go to the Finals.”
Butler and the Heat have one more chance to turn things around on Monday night when they face the Celtics in Game 7 with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line.
[ESPN]
