Butler channels inner Wahlberg in a master thespian moment

Debate, if you will, whether Jimmy Butler deserves to be an All-Star this season considering the time he has missed.

But don’t dare question the credentials of the Miami Heat leader as a master thespian.

Because when his team was clinging to a one-point lead with 6.2 seconds to play, Butler went Broadway at the close of Tuesday night’s 98-96 victory over the New York Knicks at AmericanAirlines Arena.

A foul assessed to Knicks forward Julius Randle? Little doubt the correct call was made by referee Lauren Holtkamp.

But why settle for just two free throws when you might also retain possession for a flagrant foul?

So there remained Butler on the court, writhing, in agony, possibly concussed . . . and then a smile and a wink.

Upon video review, no flagrant foul. Of course, by then Butler already was cutting it up with teammates on the bench.

“I’ve studied Mark Wahlberg and how he acts so incredibly well,” Butler said of his friend’s influence on his bravura performance. “I’ve taken a few pointers.”

Cheating the system? Nah, Butler said.

“It’s OK to have fun,” he said. “It’s OK to joke around because that’s what we’re out here playing for. Yeah, we want to win, but never forget to have fun. Smile and enjoy the situation that you’re in.

“They know, push comes to shove, I’ll take the blame for everything. I’ll shoot the game-winning shot and miss it and be like, ‘I’ve got to do better.’ ”

Teammate Bam Adebayo said he never was worried . . . about Butler, with the game still in doubt when Butler made only the second of his two foul shots.

“He’s a big kid,” Adebayo said. “That’s all I can say about that. That situation, he’s just a big kid. And everybody knew it. That’s why we was all laughing because we knew.

“First of all, if Jimmy was really injured, everybody knows he’s trying to get up and trying to walk it off. So the fact that he was down there for so long, just being Jimmy, I felt like that’s one of those things like over the course of the game, it lightens the mood. Everybody gets a mental break from being serious for like 30 seconds, and then we lock back in.”

So Butler went big.

“I thought I was concussed,” he deadpanned with Heat television host Jason Jackson during his postgame interview.

“Can one think they’re concussed?” Jackson played along

“Yes,” Butler said, “they can.”