Butler an epic fail as Jeopardy! clue
It was a moment that likely left South Florida and the NBA community speechless for how it left Jeopardy! contestants speechless during the episode that aired Tuesday.
“Recently,” guest host Ken Jennings asked, “this ballerbarista launched Big Face Coffee and turned his new team, the Miami Heat, into a title contender.”
The $1,000 clue in the category of “Hoops” also included a photo. Silence.
Not even buzzworthy. “We were looking for Jimmy Butler,” Jennings said following the show’s timing buzzer.
As in the Miami Heat All-Star guard.
As in the player who led his team within two games of last season’s NBA championship.
As in the over-the-top personality who, during the league’s completion of last season in a quarantine-bubble type of setting at Disney World, sold his unique brews out of his hotel room for $20 a cup to teammates, opponents, coaches and anyone else with cash.
Then again, considering Butler said his preference is to go to bed at 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. when possible, perhaps he pays as little attention to the show as Tuesday’s contestants did to him.
The Heat are in the midst of a seven-game trip, with the latest stop Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors.
Timing elements
The NBA on Wednesday announced that the Heat’s final game of the first half of the season, a March 4 road game against the New Orleans Pelicans, has been changed to an 8:30 p.m. Eastern start, an hour earlier than previously scheduled, still to be televised by TNT.
The league previously announced the Heat’s Monday night game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the end of this seven-game trip, has been changed from the previous 8 p.m. Eastern start to a 9 p.m. start.
Also, the Feb. 28 game against the Atlanta Hawks, originally
scheduled for 6 p.m. has been changed to an 8 p.m. start.
Iguodala speaks
Having established a winning culture with the Warriors, having had unexpected success in his first season with the Heat, Andre Iguodala was asked after the morning shootaround about the inability to recapture such chemistry.
“We’re trying to bring that out, and that’s just nature of the beast, you can call it, dealing with a lot of moving parts, lineups,” he said. “It’s funny, that you’ve got so many analytics now and you have so many metrics to point and say here are different things, but at the same time Heat culture is no excuse. So you’ve got to game by game try to improve, try not to take any steps backward, try to figure this thing out.”
As for his relationship with Warriors coach Steve Kerr, Iguodala pointed to common roots as players at the University of Arizona.
“I think we just spoke the same language in terms of basketball, especially coming from Arizona,” he said of his time under Kerr with the Warriors. “We were taught the same principles. That’s your baseline and your foundation and you build from there.
“I never felt stressed playing a game. Everything felt easy for me, everything felt natural, flowed perfectly for me.”