They always say one of the most dangerous things you can do in sports is overlook the opponent that’s right in front of you.
That’s exactly what Jimmy Butler seemed to do ahead of the Heat’s play-in matchup against the Hawks. And, honestly it’s hard to blame him. The Heat are 10-3 against Atlanta dating back to the start of last season if you include last year’s playoff matchup. Miami has traditionally dominated that team.
That’s why Charles Barkley was so confident in his Miami pick. *cough* it’s why we were, too. But everyone was a little too confident — including Jimmy Butler, himself.
He told The Athletic the Heat were winning. Flat out.
“I’m gonna do whatever it takes for my team to win — night in and night out, and honestly, I couldn’t care less what anybody writes, if I’m a good basketball player or a bad basketball player…So as I take on tomorrow’s matchup, and we get that dub, we’ll worry about what goes on down the line. But I think I’m gonna be a decent basketball player at the end of the day.”
Obviously, Miami did not win. The Hawks got the last laugh in this one and it wasn’t particularly close. Atlanta had huge leads for most of the game. Miami cut the score to as low as 5 and only led once, but Atlanta dominated most of the way.
So, of course, after the game, Young called Butler out for what he said.
"I know Jimmy guaranteed a dub so I was really focused on making sure that didn't happen." 💯@TheTraeYoung was locked in for the Hawks tonight 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/LhTmkS6rG1
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 12, 2023
“I was really focused on tonight and making sure we won. I know Jimmy guaranteed a dub so I was really focused on making sure that didn’t happen.”
And he said it with the shades on, too. Whew. That’s how you send the trash-talk back the other way. The NBA needs a lot more of this, man.
To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with Butler being confident enough in himself and his squad to guarantee a W. He should feel that way going into the game. Just know that, if it doesn’t happen, you’ll hear about it. And that’s exactly what happened here.
This is fun. This is how sports are supposed to be. Give me more, Plz.
