Jimmy Butler has come out swinging fists at the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics by stating that if he played in the series, he would have spared his Floridian franchise NBA Playoffs defeat.
The 34-year-old small forward has been the Heat‘s star player ever since he joined them in 2019, after quitting the Philadelphia 76ers and “Jimmy Buckets”, as he’s called, has gone on to become a two-time NBA All-Star during his time in Miami.
Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler criticizes media for talking about Boston Celtics
But he missed the NBA Playoffs due to suffering a season-ending meniscus cruciate ligament injury, essentially meaning he could barely walk, let alone run and jump to shoot buckets.
It concluded an impressive 2023 in which he’s averaged 20.8 points per game, 5.3 rebounds and five assists, underlining his ability to spur his team to victory on the court and he reiterated that in an explosive interview as frustrations boiled over.
“If I was playing, Boston would be at home,” said Butler as per ClutchPoints.com. “New York damn sure would be f**king at home.”
Butler then went on to disrespect Josh Hart, power forward for the New York Knicks and Tom Thibodeau, who serves as the organization’s manager and previously worked with Butler at the Chicago Bulls.
The rant comes after the Celtics blew the fire out of the Heat at the TD Garden in Massachusetts by winning 118-84 to claim their fourth win of the series, the decisive win, to progress to the second round of the NBA Playoffs.
The Heat lost the final three games on the spin, with the results reading: Celtics win Game One 114-94, Heat win Game Two 111-101, Celtics win Games Three, Four and Five 104-84, 102-88, 118-84. With that, it’s clear that the offense was desperately lacking without Butler‘s lethal product.
Who do the Celtics play next?
The Celtics now move onto the Conference Semifinals, leaving them two series away from the NBA Finals and a chance to win their first championship since 2008, and just their second since 1986.
They finished the regular season in great form with a 64-18/.780 record to win the Eastern Conference and their next obstacle will be one of the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Orlando Magic, who conclude their series on May 5 at 13:00 ET.
