Celtics
Butler missed all five games due to an MCL injury the suffered in the play-in tournament.
The Celtics comfortably dispatched the Heat in their first-round series, winning in five games to get revenge for their loss in the Eastern Conference finals a season ago.
But as Jimmy Butler missed the entire series due to an MCL sprain, he believes it would’ve been a different story if he had played.
“If I was playing, Boston would be at home,” Butler told Rock The Bells.
Butler has obviously had some success in the past in the postseason against the Celtics. The Heat’s star wing was their leading scorer in the last two playoff series between the two teams and helped Miami win two of the last three postseason meetings against Boston prior to this year.
In last year’s Eastern Conference finals, Butler scored 24.7 points per game on .420/.348/.833 shooting splits, averaging 7.6 rebounds and 6.1 assists. He had some notable performances in Miami’s wins in that series, scoring 35 points in Game 1 and 28 points in Game 7 to lift the eight-seeded Heat to the NBA Finals. He won the Larry Bird Trophy as the MVP of the series as a result.
This year was a bit of a different story between the Celtics and Heat. Boston swept the regular-season series, winning all three matchups. Butler had a pair of underwhelming performances in the two games he played, scoring 14 points on 3-of-11 shooting in the October matchup and putting up 17 points in the Heat’s 33-point loss to the Celtics in January.
Still, Butler had a strong sense of confidence that his team could be the Celtics even without him during the series.
“I think we believe,” Butler told TNT’s Chris Haynes in a sideline interview during Game 3. “It’s everybody else that don’t. If I gotta hear one more praise about Boston on national TV when we win a game, I’m tired of hearing that man.
“It’s 1-1. We gonna go up 2-1. See ya later, peace!”
Butler’s take didn’t age well. After the Heat’s surprising Game 2 win, the Celtics proceeded to win the next three games by double digits. Miami also struggled to score, posting fewer than 90 points in each of the final three games of the series.
While Butler was confident that he would’ve taken the Celtics down, the Knicks received most of his scorn.
“New York damn sure would be [expletive] at home [if I was playing],” Butler said. ” … Josh Hart? C’mon man. I love [Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau]. Thibs, I love you baby, but I want to beat you to a pulp. You want me, I don’t want you. It’s like a one-sided relationship.”
Butler helped the Heat upset the Knicks prior to facing the Celtics last year, defeating New York in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Thibodeau coached Butler with the Bulls and Timberwolves earlier in their careers.
As the Celtics and Knicks appear to be on a path to face each other in the Eastern Conference finals, Butler’s future in Miami doesn’t seem to be certain. He’s expected to seek a two-year maximum extension worth about $113 million, the Miami Herald reported. However, there have been “murmurings this year that Butler and the Heat may no longer be singing from the same hymnal,” casting uncertainty he’ll still remain with the team past this offseason, The Athletic‘s David Aldridge reported.
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