Inside Jimmy Butler’s Wacky Week

One of the nice things about the NBA season is that the length of it means that even if you have an off-night or make a major mistake, you’ve got lots of time to bounce back.

Perhaps no one is more familiar with that idea than the Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler. Butler is also sometimes referred to as “Jimmy G Buckets,” with the G standing for “Gets.” It’s a clever nickname that I very much enjoy.

On Sunday, Butler had a chance to get the biggest bucket of them all, a game-winning drive after the Brooklyn Nets had taken a one-point lead.

Butler drove to the basket and absorbed a bit of contact and…

The ball clanked off the backboard and rim. The Nets escape with the 102-101 victory.

To his credit, Butler said he didn’t think he was fouled and that he “should’ve made it.” Still a tough way to go out, though.

Luckily, Butler had plenty of time to make up for the miss. And, in fact, he would do so in the Heat’s VERY NEXT GAME.

Let’s see how this wild finish turned out.

Butler would go on to make the free throw and this time the Heat emerged with a one-point victory. It’s literally the most nail-biting, see-saw experience a player can have.

The free-throw Butler knocked in was historic, too. The Heat went 40 for 40 from the line during the game, which is an NBA record for most attempts without a miss.

Once when I was in middle school, our coach made every single player on the team shoot a free throw with our eyes closed, stepping up to the line one at a time. Anytime someone missed, we had to run the length of the court and back.

I was the first player to make his free throw and one of just two to make it at all.

Let that be a lesson: practice your free throws. It can win you a basketball game and it can also prevent you from having to run more than you want to.

Then the Heat beat the Giannis-less Milwaukee Bucks Thursday night 108-102 in a game that was close, turned into a blowout, and then went back to being close.

The Heat got some other good news this week. It looks like they’ll be able to get out of their naming rights with failed crypto company FTX, so the team doesn’t have to play in a venue called FTX Arena for nearly two decades.

Then again, they lost center Dewayne Dedmon to an ejection after he smacked a massage gun onto the court. What a way to go out.

This issue is presented by The Morning Blitz.

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