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Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat have plenty to celebrate. They were the NBA’s lowest scoring team in the regular season, and barely snuck into the playoffs through the play-in tournament. But they were able to knock off the title favorites in the first round, accomplishing the unthinkable as an 8-seed and qualifying for the NBA Finals.
WATCH: Jimmy Butler Doesn’t Want The Trophy
Butler knows that the job isn’t finished.
The Heat players and coaches stood on the makeshift stage at center court in Boston on Monday night after winning Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. It was a hard fought series, with both teams winning three games in a row, but the deciding game was won handily by Miami. Center Bam Adebayo was holding the Bob Cousey Trophy, signifying the team’s conference win, and went to hand it over to Butler so that the series MVP could celebrate with it.
“I’ll hold the next one.”
Jimmy Butler to Bam Adebayo after being offered the ECF trophy 🔒🔥pic.twitter.com/1ZG0zOSmy8
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 30, 2023
But Butler didn’t want to hold it. He gave a quick head shake to Adebayo, then appears to mouth something that looks like another one of his bold predictions:
“I’ll hold the next one.”
Jimmy Butler has been here before. He led the 2020 version of the Heat to the NBA Finals, before falling short to LeBron and the Lakers. He has enjoyed extended playoff runs with the 76ers and Bulls as well. But Butler has never hoisted the elusive Larry O’Brien trophy as an NBA Champion, and he wants that to be the next piece of hardware that he holds in the air.
Jimmy Butler since joining the Heat 🔥
-First NBA Finals (2020) appearance since Bron era
-First No. 8 seed to reach NBA Finals since 1999
-First Play-In team to make Conf. Finals + NBA Finals
-Led Miami to third Conf. Finals in four seasons
-Headed to second NBA Finals in four… pic.twitter.com/YiOsg42GtL
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 30, 2023
His Heat will have an uphill climb in order to accomplish their goal. They enter the series as heavy underdogs, with a designation of roughly +280 depending on the betting outlet. They are not only the road team in the series, but their placing as an 8-seed likely has something to do with their status. Miami will be 8.5 point dogs for Game 1 of the series on Thursday.
But odds like this aren’t anything that the Heat haven’t already overcome. They were 13/1 just to make it out of the first round, and ESPN Analytics gave them a 3% chance of defeating the Celtics in the Conference Finals. In that ECF, Jimmy Butler and company overcame 8-point spreads to win outright on three separate occasions.
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