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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Robert Zeglinski

Heat’s Jimmy Butler and P.J. Tucker jokingly argued over sufficient birthday cake on flight to Philly

The Heat have had a lovely start to the 2022 NBA playoffs for the most part.

As the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, Miami has lost just one game between a first-round series with the Hawks and a second-round series with the 76ers. With that kind of ongoing marvelous success, it’d be understandable if they wanted to take a step back, celebrate, and gorge themselves on some delicious, I don’t know, cake?

That’s precisely what Miami did.

With P.J. Tucker’s birthday the same day as the Heat’s flight to Philadelphia for Game 3, the squad decided to surprise the veteran with a customary little song, and some cake.

Somebody clearly forgot to tell Jimmy Butler about the surprise, who apparently didn’t get a cake from his teammates for his birthday.

Jimmy, relax! I’m sure they appreciate you, and there’s plenty of cake for everyone, man! I doubt P.J. kept that all to himself (though I definitely wouldn’t blame him if he did).

The little party is an excellent glimpse into the obvious chemistry of one of the NBA’s best teams. The Heat are a tight-knit group who complement one another in wonderful basketball ways. It’s easy to see why they’re already two games from the Conference Finals despite playing just seven games. You can’t mess with the flow they have going.

On Friday night, the Heat (-3.5 favorites) will seek a commanding 3-0 series lead over the 76ers. Given their laid-back, can-do attitude, something tells me they might get it.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).

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