Butler delivers as the Heat move on — ‘I don’t know how we let him go’
I still don’t know how we let him go. I wish I could have gone to battle with him still. Joel Embiid on Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler knocked Joel Embiid out of the playoffs, then walked over to his former 76ers teammate and hugged him.
Butler then headed out of a familiar court a winner — and straight into another conference finals with Miami.
“Now I’m where I belong,” Butler said. “Guess where I should have been a long time ago.”
Butler scored 32 points and waved “bye bye” to the Philly crowd as he sent Miami into the Eastern Conference finals with a 99-90 victory over Philadelphia yesterday in Game 6. The Heat will play the winner of the Milwaukee-Boston series. The defending champion Bucks lead that series 3-2, with Game 6 today in Milwaukee.
The Heat reached the conference finals for the second time in three seasons, again with Butler leading the charge. Philly fans — and many inside the 76ers organisation — still can’t believe the franchise let Butler get away after the 2019 season.
He did not mess around and scored 14 points on six-of-nine shooting in the third quarter when the Heat used a 16-2 run to take control. Butler scored 33 points in Game 3 and 40 in Game 4 and took 29 shots in Game 6.
“I think he’s one of the ultimate competitors in this profession,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He was brilliant all series long. The challenges only get tougher here. He saw there was an opportunity to end this and he wasn’t going to let this get to seven.”
Embiid, the scoring champion, had little help and scored 20 points with 12 rebounds on sevenof-24 shooting.
“I know I tried. I think for the most part, we tried,” Embiid said. “It just wasn’t good enough.”
Embiid remained to this day befuddled and hurt that the Sixers passed on Butler after forming a trio with Ben Simmons that — egos aside — could have contended for championships for years.
“I still don’t know how we let him go,” Embiid said. “I wish I could have gone to battle with him still.”
Coming off a 35-point victory in Game 5, the Heat wore down a battered Sixers team. Embiid looked gassed as he gamely tried to carry the Sixers.
James Harden, a three-time scoring champion, was supposed to shoulder the load with Embiid for a potent post-season push. Harden, instead, all but disappeared in the playoffs. He had a fantastic Game 4 at home against Miami but otherwise was a turnover machine.
Coach Doc Rivers implored his team to “fight for this” in the huddle during the fourth. The 76ers just fell flat.
Max Strus had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat. Even another abysmal night from three-point range — Miami missed 21 of 28 attempts —didn’t matter.
Embiid again gutted out a post-season game in his mask (right orbital fracture) and will have surgery on torn ligaments in his right thumb. He was only cleared last week from concussion.
“Joel, my guy. My brother. Who I’d pick for MVP,” Butler said. “It feels good to beat him. I’m not going to lie to you. I’ve got a lot of love for this city. A lot of love for guys in that locker room. So any time you get to beat a former team, it’s special.”
In yesterday’s other game, Luka Doncic scored 33 points and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Phoenix Suns 113-86 to force a Game 7 in the Western Conference semifinals.
The home team has won all six games, none closer than seven points. The deciding game is on Monday in Phoenix.