Butler sends unity message with no-name jersey

The story of Jimmy Butler’s jersey request is one of compromise and collaboration.

While the NBA denied Butler’s request to play with a blank nameplate on his jersey, the Heat’s AllStar wing was still able to make a statement in his own way.

As a symbol of unity with all impacted by social injustice, Butler initially took the court for Saturday’s seeding opener against the Denver Nuggets with a jersey that did not include his name before he was required by the officiating crew to change into a jersey that did include his name prior to tipoff.

All parties involved, including the Heat and NBA, were aware of Butler’s pregame plan. The league stuck by its ruling, but Butler stuck by the statement he wanted to make.

“We have the best leadership in professional sports between [NBA commissioner] Adam Silver and [National Basketball Players Association executive director] Michele Roberts,” Butler’s agent Bernie Lee said to the Miami Herald in advance of Tuesday’s game between the Heat and Boston Celtics at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista. “For a few weeks leading into the first seeding game, we spoke about Jimmy’s choice often and the outcome you saw was the product of those conversations.

“While it’s not exactly what anyone wanted at the outset, the outcome was reflective of the times and how adaptable everyone has to be. I think Jimmy was provided a platform and opportunity to make a statement that was very important to him and powerful.”

Butler, who did not play Tuesday against the Celtics due to right ankle soreness, is the lone player on the

Heat’s 17-man roster who opted not to wear a social justice message on his jersey because his hope was to play with only the No. 22 on the back. He explained his jersey request in July by saying, “It’s going back to who I was. If I wasn’t who I was today,

I’m no different than anybody else of color.”

In each of the Heat’s first two seeding games, Butler played with his last name on the bottom of his number. He didn’t attempt to take the court with a nameless jersey in the Heat’s second seeding game Monday against the Toronto Raptors.

“Jimmy’s entire life is reflective of being a part of a larger group,” Lee said. “It’s something I have a lot of respect for.”

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

The Heat’s 45 threepoint shot attempts in Monday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors went down as the second-most threes Miami has taken in a game in franchise history. Miami shot 14 of 45 from deep against Toronto.

The Heat missed a lot of open threes against the Raptors, too.

Miami shot a combined 11 of 37 (29.7 percent) on open and wide open threes against Toronto, according to NBA Advanced Stats.

For the season, the Heat entered Tuesday shooting 39.4 percent on those shots.

“Overall, the first half, feel like we had a lot of good open shots, we just couldn’t make the shots,” Heat guard Goran Dragic said following Monday’s game. “That kind of affected our defense. We were thinking too much. And from there on, we struggled.”

The most threes the Heat has ever attempted in a game is 49 in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Feb. 9 earlier this season.