Despite his immense talent, Jimmy Butler has had a string of bad luck in recent NBA history. He was drafted onto the Chicago Bulls team of reigning MVP Derrick Rose, but Rose’s injuries hindered their chances of competing for titles. Subsequently, Butler was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, where he was expected to play alongside another MVP candidate in Joel Embiid.
However, the team let Butler leave in free agency to sign Al Horford, robbing him of the chance to play with Embiid during his prime years. As a player of the Miami Heat, Jimmy Butler has come tantalizingly close to winning the NBA championship twice. However, his hopes of winning the 2020 title were crushed when Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic suffered injuries during Game 1 of the Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.
In the previous season, Butler was just one shot away from reaching the NBA Finals with a team that had five key players listed on the injury report going into Game 7 against the Boston Celtics.
Players like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, and John Stockton are often remembered for their lack of championship rings, as history tends to focus on destinations rather than journeys. While Jimmy Butler technically falls into this category for now, to criticize him solely on this basis does not do justice to the role he has played as a postseason giant slayer.
Although he has never won a championship, Butler has become a player that contenders aspire to avoid on their path to the title. He has established himself as a force to be reckoned with during the playoffs, and his impact on the game cannot be measured by hardware alone.
Jimmy Butler: The Ultimate Playoff Underdog with a Remarkable Resume
- In 13 playoff series where Jimmy Butler’s team was the lower seed, they managed to win six, resulting in a 46% win rate. Since Butler became a full-time starter in 2014, lower-seeded teams have only won 33 out of 102 series, with a win rate of approximately 24%.
- Butler holds a postseason road record of 19 wins and 25 losses, giving him a winning percentage of roughly 43%. Between 1984 and 2020, road teams won only 35% of their playoff games.
- The 2020 Miami Heat, led by Butler, became only the second No. 5 seed to reach the NBA Finals. Out of all the playoff teams in history, they were the third-lowest overall seed to reach the Finals, behind the No. 6 seeded 1995 Houston Rockets and the No. 8 seeded 1999 Knicks.
- The Miami Heat led by Butler accomplished something unprecedented on Wednesday, becoming the sixth No. 8 seed to ever defeat a No. 1 seed, as they knocked off the Milwaukee Bucks. Although the NBA’s play-in round has been in place for a few seasons, no play-in team had ever won a playoff series until Butler’s Heat managed to do so.
Butler played 48 minutes in three out of five games against the Miami Heat in the second round in only his second overall season and first in the rotation. Even though Chicago lost that series, Butler limited James at his absolute apex to only 23.6 points per game. That feat has never been matched by Kawhi Leonard.
In the 2020 NBA Finals, Butler faced James once again but without Dragic and Adebayo. He posted a 40-point triple-double and a 35-point triple-double in Miami’s two wins.
Jimmy Butler has established himself as the most lethal underdog in NBA playoff history. In last season’s playoffs, despite being the top seed, his Miami Heat team was still considered significant underdogs, and they were also plagued by injuries. But Butler’s determination was unbreakable, and he led his team to victory against the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks. He was responsible for half of the Bucks’ playoff defeats under coach Mike Budenholzer.
Butler’s performances in the playoffs have earned him a reputation as a player who deprives others of championships despite never winning one himself. He has been on few championship-caliber teams, and those that he has been on have been plagued by injuries. However, Butler has established his own unique playoff identity, one that separates him from legendary players like Barkley, Ewing, and Stockton.
His path to NBA stardom was also unconventional. He was a lightly recruited high school player who had to spend his freshman year at Tyler Junior College. He was the last pick of the first round in the 2011 NBA Draft, and after playing his way into a max deal during his fourth season with the Bulls, he was traded to the Heat to avoid paying him a super-max deal two years later.
Despite his success in the playoffs, Butler remains focused on winning a championship ring. He may be an underdog, but he has proven time and time again that he is a force to be reckoned with on the court. Although his playoff success may not mean as much as winning a championship, it is still a worthy legacy for a player who has come up short in the postseason.
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