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NBA: 'Psychotic' Butler driving Heat in playoffs

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Getty Images/AFP " src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/04/25/jimmy-butler-epa.jpg"/><figcaption>Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat reacts against the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round Playoffs at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. Megan Briggs, Getty Images/AFP </figcaption></figure></div>LOS ANGELES—Three years after leading the Miami Heat to the brink of an NBA championship, Jimmy Butler is once more inspiring his team on an epic playoff journey.The 33-year-old NBA star produced the latest in a series of jaw-dropping performances on Wednesday to send the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks crashing out of the postseason in the first round.Butler&#x27;s 42-point masterpiece in Milwaukee was the sort of inspirational display that has earned him multiple nicknames over the years that reflect his unerring knack of delivering under pressure, from &quot;Playoff Jimmy&quot; to &quot;Jimmy Buckets.&quot;On Wednesday night, Butler forced overtime with a sensational alley-oop, draining an acrobatic two-pointer while falling backward in mid-air under pressure from two Bucks players.&quot;The game plan was simple: Get the ball to Buckets and let him do what he do,&quot; was how teammate Gabe Vincent described Butler&#x27;s tying shot.Incredibly, Butler&#x27;s game-winning performance came just two days after another of his logic-defying displays, a 56-point gem in game four.In the five playoff games against Milwaukee, Butler averaged 37.2 points, with 4.8 assists and six rebounds.Butler, who endured homelessness as a teenager before eventually being drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 2011, is the figurehead of a Miami team that has proven fearless in adversity.Their last two wins over Milwaukee were earned after overturning double-digit leads late in the game.&quot;We&#x27;re a resilient group. We stick together through everything,&quot; Butler said on Wednesday.&quot;We&#x27;re a good group of basketball players and we&#x27;re out there having fun playing basketball the right way. Good things happen when you do that.&quot;We just play hard. We know what we&#x27;re capable of. We don&#x27;t listen to the outside noise. We&#x27;re going to do what we do, learn from our mistakes and get better.&quot;<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/04/27/23/nba-butler-inspired-miami-sends-bucks-crashing-out">NBA: Butler-inspired Miami sends Bucks crashing out</a></li></ul><div>&#x27;DESPERATE, MANIACAL, PSYCHOTIC&#x27;</div>Asked to explain his own incredible run of form, Butler reflected: &quot;I&#x27;m just in a groove, in a rhythm. I&#x27;ve been shooting the ball an incredible amount in this series, but I feel like they&#x27;re shots I can make – and my teammates keep telling me: &#x27;Shoot the ball, shoot the ball.&#x27;&quot;When push comes to shove, I always remember why I do what I do. For my kids, for my family, for my guys. I know if I&#x27;m doing things the right way they have to follow suit.&quot;Miami coach Erik Spoelstra meanwhile says Butler is the personification of the Heat&#x27;s team culture.&quot;I&#x27;ve said it many times -- he is us and we are him,&quot; Spoelstra said after Wednesday&#x27;s win.&quot;I just respect him so much being such a unique, world-class, elite competitor. A lot of guys play the game of basketball in this league. He competes to win. And that&#x27;s a different language.&quot;He&#x27;s desperate, and urgent, and maniacal, and sometimes psychotic, about the will to try to win. He&#x27;ll make everybody in the building feel it.&quot;And that&#x27;s why he is us and we are him. We needed every bit of every play that he made tonight.&quot;Butler&#x27;s indomitable spirit has been a recurring feature of his NBA career.In the NBA Finals in 2020, Butler went head-to-head with LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in a do-or-die game five that ended with a 111-108 victory.The enduring image of that encounter was an exhausted Butler, doubled up on the side of the court near the end of a game in which he played almost the entire 48 minutes, finishing with 35 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.&quot;I left it all out there on the court,&quot; said Butler, who would ultimately see his hopes of a championship end in a 4-2 series defeat to the Lakers.Spoelstra meanwhile said Butler should be an example to every young player entering the NBA.&quot;Every young player coming into this league should study footage of Jimmy Butler, a definition of a two-way player competing on both ends,&quot; Spoelstra said at the time. &quot;His will to win is remarkable.&quot;<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/04/27/23/nba-no-failure-in-sports-says-giannis-after-bucks-exit">NBA: &#x27;No failure in sports&#x27; says Giannis after Bucks exit</a></li></ul><div>RELATED VIDEO</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2596706" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The 33-year-old NBA star produced the latest in a series of jaw-dropping performances to send the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks crashing out.