In any sport, post-season is where the stars portray their legacy. The NBA knockouts are no different. In the NBA, it is said that teams often need a superstar or stars to compete for a championship. Jimmy Butler is a Miami Heat man, but he was never considered one of the superiors of the NBA’s supporters. However, after this season, Butler could play the best of the rest. As great as Butler has been in these playoffs, I think he’s the most underrated star still playing.
Reaching the semi-finals, seven out of eight teams had at least one player in the top 10 MVP votes. Miami is the only team without a player to be voted MVP. The Phoenix Suns had two with Chris Paul and Devin Booker. Butler was never seen among the top 10 in the NBA, but he played well in most of them through the first two rounds of the playoffs.
There seemed to be something about the knockouts that made Butler lose his mind. He’s got two Performance 40 points in the post-season after scoring in 57 regular-season games. He increased his scoring average from 21.4 to 28.3 ppg in the knockout stages. He averaged over 26 ppg in the series against Philadelphia, which featured Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Whenever people mention the best players in the league, Butler’s name is never mentioned in the top 5 or 10. Most of the times, he’s not even mentioned in the top 15. and it’s hard to argue with that. He proved this again in Game 6 last night to finish the 76ers in Philly, scoring a 32-game high in a 99-90 win. Even in games Miami has lost, Butler’s play has kept the Heat within a striking distance.
In game 4, Butler scored 40 points after losing 8 points but received little help from the supporting cast. Butler did all he could in that game to keep Miami alive, and they’re still in it.
Even though Miami is Number 1 seed In the East, some people think Philly will be able to handle them easily because Miami has no “superstars”. Butler has shown that while he may not be considered at that level, he can go up against anyone when his team needs him most, look at you James Harden.
Now that Butler and Heat are conference finalists again, maybe it’s time we re-examine our views on who is a superstar and who isn’t. Anthony Davis was considered a superior talent for many years, even before arriving in Los Angeles, and he only led New Orleans out of the first round once during his time there. Butler has Heat returning to ECF for the second time in three years. That sounds like big star power to me.
