Jimmy Butler did it again on Friday night, leading the Heat from down double-digits to another come-from-behind win in the playoffs. This time, Boston threw a different primary defender at him, but that decision ultimately backfired in many ways.
Grant Williams, who did not play in the first game of the series, was tasked with trying to limit Butler in Game 2. However, Williams’s decision to trash talk Butler after a made three backfired immediately, as Butler relentlessly attacked him down the stretch as Miami took, and extended, the lead.
While walking off the floor, Butler loudly and sarcastically questioned why Boston put Williams on him late.
“They thought he was the answer? Come on!” Butler exclaimed. “That’s the answer to the problem?”
“That’s the answer to the Jimmy Butler problem?!”
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 20, 2023
Jimmy is HYPE after going up 2-0 against Boston 😤 pic.twitter.com/weGt0h1ts1
After the game, Butler was asked about the Celtics thinking they found an answer to stopping him in Williams, and he gave a short answer in response.
“Hell no,” he said. “He wasn’t.”
"So Jimmy, Grant wasn't the answer, was he?"
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) May 20, 2023
😅
(via @NBATV)pic.twitter.com/0v2w6JrqBF
Williams is known for not being afraid to chirp at the opposition, but deciding to do it against a player as focused as Butler wasn’t the smartest choice. Still, the forward doesn’t regret going toe-to-toe with Miami’s best player.
“I’m a competitor. I’m going to battle,” he said after the game. “He got the best of me tonight. At the end of the day, it is out of respect because I am not going to run away from it.”
In the playoffs, Butler is now averaging 31.1 points per game, fourth most overall and the most of any player still remaining. That is despite producing 22.9 points per game in the regular season, which was ranked No. 33 in the league and No. 6 compared to players on the remaining playoff teams.
