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Getty Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler reacts after a series-clinching win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Without a doubt, there were multiple heroes during the Philadelphia 76ers’ second-round elimination by the Miami Heat. To name just a few, there was Max Strus with his 20-point, 11-rebound, five-assist effort during the decisive Game 6, and Bam Adebayo going 23-9-3 in Game 2.
However, Jimmy Butler’s performance throughout the series (and, for that matter, the playoffs in general) has been one of the best postseason efforts in franchise history.
Through six games against Philly, Butler averaged a team-best 27.5 points per outing and added 7.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.7 steals. He also connected on 51.3% of his shot attempts, including a very unlike Butler-like 32.1% from 3-point range.
His presence loomed so large over the series, in fact, that some rim pundits have begun to rethink their views on whether or not Butler is a bona fide NBA superstar.
Redick endorses his former teammate as a superstar PlayJJ Redick Heat vs. Celtics Eastern Conference Finals Playoff PreviewJJ Redick and Tommy Alter preview the Eastern Conference Finals series between Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and The Miami Heat vs. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and the Boston Celtics. Subscribe to The Old Man and The Three podcast with JJ Redick (ESPN/First Take) and Tommy Alter’s YouTube channel today…2022-05-16T12:00:13Z
In the wake of the Boston Celtics’ Game 7 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, former ball player JJ Redick, a former teammate of Butler’s in Philadelphia, previewed the Cs’ upcoming conference finals series against Miami. . In doing so, he made it a point to address an old debate about Butler’s place in the league hierarchy.
“I think the biggest thing so far in these first two rounds of the playoffs is Jimmy Butler as a superstar,” Redick said.
“Because he doesn’t, night to night he needs to, for that team, he needs to come up with crazy counting stats, I feel like we, collectively, in the NBA world, tend to overlook him a little bit in terms of how valuable which is once we get to the playoffs.”
While Butler’s recent performance speaks for itself, Redick also cited the Heat’s cornerstone exploits during the 2020 bubble playoffs and, more specifically, what he did against LeBron James and the Lakers in the Finals as proof. more of his superstar status.
“We saw him in 2020 go shot for shot, at times, with LeBron in the Finals. He took that team to the Finals. So, we’re big fans of Jimmy Butler here. I think sometimes we forget where he is in the hierarchy of NBA players and he’s elite.”
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Join Heavy on Heat! The master of the mid range
Although Butler’s detractors have pointed to his overreliance in the middle game as a mark against his superstar case, Redick believes his ability to generate points from midrange actually makes him a more valuable postseason player.
“Yeah, I did the game with Mark Jones on Thursday in Dallas … and Mark used the phrase, ‘the midrange is where the magic happens in the playoffs,’ and I think there’s some truth to that,” Redick said. “You just need these guys that can make their shots at midrange and Jimmy is one of those guys.”
Redick also warmed to Butler’s defensive impact, something he feels is underreported.
“We tend to talk about him as a two-way player as well but, you know, there are a bunch of different advanced metrics for guys and they generally tend to favor guys that dribble the ball…but Jimmy, sometimes, I feel like he gets passed over. high. how good he is defensively because he’s a winger and those rebounding numbers aren’t what they are,” he said.
“When we look at defensive field goal percentage when he guards a guy, his deflections, his steals … he’s phenomenal on that end of the floor.”
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