Butler hopes to extend comeback story
After injury almost ends season, star ready to make noise in first-round series
In the third quarter of a late-February contest against the Rockets, Minnesota guard Jimmy Butler ripped a rebound from Nene and wrapped a pass around Ryan Anderson to find teammate Taj Gibson under the basket.
Gibson missed, Butler fell to the ground clutching his knee, and the Timberwolves lost as the Rockets coasted to their 11th of 17 straight victories.
As Butler sat on the floor of Toyota Center scrunching his face and holding his right knee with Chris Paul and Timberwolves coaches and teammates hovering above, it became clear the Timberwolves’ chances of coming back were over, and their playoff chances might have been, too.
But for Butler, even on that February night, staying out was never an option.
“We talked about how long it would take, the date they would shoot for me to come back, and I wanted to play,” Butler said, explaining that he never expected the injury to be season-ending. “I hate watching them from TV or the bench or wherever I was at any point in time. I always want to go out there and compete and show them I’m there with them.”
The Tomball native was there in the fi“I’m nal three contests where the team flipped back-to-back losses into a three-game winning streak, capped off by Butler’s 31point performance to carry Minnesota to a win over Denver in overtime of the regular-season finale that clinched the Timberwolves’ spot in the postseason.
The Timberwolves were 8-9 through his late-season absence. They were 37-22 in the 59 games he started.
not even going home. I’m here to work,” Butler said after Minnesota’s Saturday practice at Rice’s Tudor Fieldhouse. “I’m just glad we’re in the playoffs, I don’t care if we’re home or away. Our season is still going on and that makes everyone in here smile.”
Part of that joy is snapping the franchise’s 14-year playoff drought.
But while slipping a foot in the door is nice, players aren’t satisfied just getting in. In fact, that’s part of the reason Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau sought in the offseason to add veterans like Butler, who arrived in a trade from the Bulls.
“He’s changed everything for us,” said Thibodeau, who also coached Butler when he led the Bulls from 2010-15. “He and Taj have just brought so much toughness but to be able to get Jimmy — a guy going into his prime, I think an elite player … he’s changed everything. You look at where we are when he’s on the floor (and) where we are when he’s off the floor, and it tells you everything you need to know.”
Still, Butler and Minnesota have a tall task ahead if they hope to advance.
Butler averaged 22.2 points, 4.9 assists, and 5.3 rebounds per game this season. But against the Rockets, those numbers drop off, especially at Toyota Center, where he averaged 16.5 points, 2.5 assists, and 4.5 rebounds in two games there.
But Butler is confident his knee and teammates are ready for a competitive series.
“I don’t think there’s an advantage,” he said, suggesting that the pressure is on the favorites. “They’re the one (seed in the Western Conference). We’re the eight.
“We just have to go out there and compete and see if we can score more points than them at the end of the game.”