It's been quite the season for the Miami Heat.
Despite having the second-most man games missed to injury among Eastern Conference playoff teams, the Heat have found a way to churn out wins all season.
Bam Adebayo has missed 25 games. Jimmy Butler has missed 23 games. Kyle Lowry has missed 17 games. Even Tyler Herro has missed 15 games. And yet, with fewer than 10 games remaining in the season, the Heat sit atop of the most loaded Eastern Conference the league has seen in decades, even if only by a one-game margin.
That first-place lead was much larger before the team's recent four-game losing streak, where, as I'm sure you saw, things went off the rails a bit.
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In Miami's loss to the Golden State Warriors last Wednesday, Butler and head coach Erik Spoelstra got into a spat that made headlines across sports news outlets everywhere. It's not very common to see a player and coach go at it like that during the middle of a game, but with how intense Butler is as a competitor, I don't think it caught anyone by surprise, either.
The reality was that the Heat weren't playing at the same level they had been all season to that point, and they even lost two more games after that fiery interaction. But after Miami finally snapped its losing streak to the Sacramento Kings on Monday, Butler spoke out on how the team can grow from that moment.
"I think we got comfortable a little bit, expecting that we were going to win night in and night out. Everything's not going to be all good and everything's not going to be all bad. We understand that," Butler told the media.
"At the end of the day, we have to be in it together – which we are – and we're going to continue to be that way, win or loss. Things happen, we understand that as well. We move on from it, like we have. And we got one, so let's get back to stacking wins."
Coming straight from the source himself, if the Heat are going to continue to "stack wins" and make another deep playoff run, it will come on the shoulders of Butler.
Adebayo is physical, versatile and dominant. Lowry brings the championship swagger and DNA Miami was looking for. Herro is playing the best basketball of his young career. But if Butler isn't the best version of himself, the Heat's championship hopes will be short-lived.
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Take the 2020 NBA Playoffs, for example, where Butler elevated his game to a level we've never seen before, averaging 22.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals on .488/.349/.859 shooting splits while getting to the free throw line over nine times a game.
It was during that run to the NBA Finals where Butler consensually became a top-15 player in the NBA, going toe-to-toe with LeBron James on the league's biggest stage despite the Heat being seen as clear underdogs in the series.
And if we're taking the good with the bad, look at Butler's playoff performance last season.
After handling the Milwaukee Bucks in five games the year prior, Giannis Antetokounmpo and co. clearly figured out Butler and Miami. The star forward still averaged 7.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game, but posting 14.5 points on .297/.267/.727 shooting splits was not going to get the job done as the Heat were swept out of the playoffs in the first round.
Antetokounmpo took on Butler as his primary matchup and was daring him to shoot the ball. According to the matchup data on NBA stats, Butler scored nine points on Antetokounmpo in four games, shooting 3-for-16 from the field. He only averaged 5.5 free throw attempts per game and shot an ugly 25.0 percent from midrange and 23.1 percent in the paint (non-restricted area).
Why is that relevant to this year? Because Butler has struggled to shoot the ball all season, which could play a big role in a playoff series for Miami again.
Butler is knocking down midrange jumpers at a decent 36.3 percent clip but he's shooting 22.1 percent from 3 – the lowest mark of his career since his rookie season. His catch-and-shoot 3-point percentage has fallen off a cliff, down to 22.8 percent this season, almost a full 10 percentage points lower than last season.
However, after Monday's win over the Kings, Butler said his teammates challenged him to shoot more 3s and he responded by knocking down a season-high three 3-pointers on just five attempts.
Coach Spoelstra touched on the topic after the game, saying spacing was the highest priority in the losing streak-snapping victory.
"We've seen what Jimmy can do when he has open spaces to be able to be creative and be able to attack and be able to make plays. I know he hit three 3s and I love that, but he was in a lot of places where he can be successful and effective," Spoelstra told the media.
Jimmy turned up the offense last night pic.twitter.com/hYoJxfZTHV
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) March 29, 2022
That's the beauty of Butler's game – he can wear multiple different hats as a player. He can score with ease when he's aggressive and attacks the basket but he's also one of the best passing forwards in the NBA. He's always going to bring the intensity on the defensive end and he always takes on the toughest perimeter assignments.
If his jumper isn't falling, he can still impact the game as a playmaker, slasher and defender. But when his jumper is falling, he becomes one of the most versatile offensive players in the NBA.
While playoff matchups are far from determined, it's known that the Heat will need Butler to be the best player on the floor in a series against some combination of Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, DeMar DeRozan or even Kevin Durant if they're going to make a push to win the East.
Butler has already proved he can lead a team on a deep playoff run, but can he prove it again? The Heat will only go as far as their superstar forward takes them.
