Jimmy Butler vows NBA Finals loss not end for battle-tested Heat

DENVER — The Miami Heat made history by becoming only the second No. 8 seed to reach the NBA Finals. They did it with grit and will power, but it wasn’t enough to become the only No. 8 seed to win the championship as they lost a five-game series to the Denver Nuggets 94-89 on Monday night.

Jimmy Butler was the undeniable leader of the team. He played through an ankle injury that he suffered in Game 1 of the second round of the playoffs against the New York Knicks. He sat out one game and played the rest of the playoffs. After losing the Finals, he said was “fine,” there was “zero” pain and “no excuse.”

He led by example and encouragement. He brought the Heat to an escape room ahead of Game 2 of the Finals for a bit of bonding and regrouping after dropping the first matchup. Afterward, Miami captured its sole win of the series.

En route to the Finals, his confidence never wavered as the Boston Celtics rallied from down 0-3 to force a Game 7. Butler guaranteed a win in Game 6 and when that didn’t happen, he made sure it did in the final matchup.

Butler joined the Heat ahead of the 2019-2020 season. He had played the first six years of his career as a member of the Chicago Bulls, where he earned his first three All-Star nods. Then, he bounced around the league a bit and was called a bad teammate. But everything clicked when he arrived in the 305. He powered the team to the 2020 Finals in the NBA bubble and the Heat returned to the Eastern Conference finals in 2022.

After the championship loss to the Nuggets, where Butler led his team with 21 points, he was distant in the post-game press conference, looking toward the ceiling while Kyle Lowry answered the first question. After taking a moment to reflect, he shared the significance of being a member of Miami.

“You never know what the team is going to look like next year, the year after that,” he said. “I’m just grateful. I learned so much. They taught me so much. I wish I could have got it done for these guys because they definitely deserve it.”

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Lowry knows what an NBA championship feels like. He took home the title in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors. Despite the loss, the 2022-23 season with the Heat still stands out thanks to Butler.

“We were led by one of the best basketball players on this earth, and he instilled confidence in us,” he said. “It’s kind of one of the things where we don’t know how we are going to feel and what we are going to think right this moment. But you know, we’ll look back at some point and say, hey, it was a great year, great run.”

The Heat featured three undrafted players in their starting lineup in the postseason after starting guard Tyler Herro hurt his hand in the first game of the first round against the Milwaukee Bucks. Caleb Martin, who joined the team after a recommendation from rap superstar J. Cole, was the Eastern Conference finals darling and averaged 19 points per game in the series. Gabe Vincent was the Heat’s starting point guard and was the highest scorer in Game 2 when Miami evened the Finals series. Max Strus was a mainstay in the starting lineup and tied Butler with 31 points in the Heat’s play-in win over the Bulls.

Bam Adebayo has been on the Heat since 2017 and has been a part of the notable playoff runs. He finished Monday night’s game with 20 points and 12 rebounds and was the Heat’s leading scorer in Game 1 when Butler was 6-of-14 in field goals for 13 points. He understands what a special team Miami had this year where anyone could pick up the team at any moment.

“They need to put more respect on undrafted players,” he said. “They are still basketball players at the end of the day, and obviously you’ve seen, they can take you there. So for me, it was a joy to get this far and have these type of guys, undrafted, fighting to make a name for themselves. And they fought to the Finals. Came up short, but I don’t care what anybody says. You can never count these guys out.”

Even when Butler had his lows in the playoffs, his teammates stepped up and head coach Erik Spoelstra’s confidence never wavered in his star player.

“He is a two-way basketball player,” he said before Game 3 after Butler had failed to put up Playoff Jimmy numbers. “He does so many winning things that I think unfortunately when you view maybe a 56-point game, everybody on the outside views that he has to do that every game to impact winning. He understands the levers that contribute to winning.”

Now, the Heat have a long flight back to Miami and fans won’t get to see mascot Burnie’s — or Herro’s — return in Game 6. But, according to Butler, the story is far from over.

“I’ve had some helluva teammates come through here and compete with me and give us the opportunity to win a championship,” he said, “which I still believe, with everything in me, that we will do as a team here.”

Follow Victoria Hernandez on Twitter @LadyViii

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jimmy Butler vows NBA Finals loss not end for battle-tested Heat