Hyde: Heat what Butler hoped for
MIAMI — Sure, Jimmy Butler has a funny line. He’s happy right now — that might be the most revealing part of this crazy Miami Heat start. And so he has a funny line when asked about getting to the free-throw line 21 times in Sunday night’s win.
“When you’re not making shots, you’ve got to figure out something,” he said.
He smiles. Bystanders chuckle. But that’s really the story of this fun Heat start, isn’t it? When things aren’t working, as they hadn’t been for the Heat in recent years, haven’t you got to figure something out?
There are five simple reasons the Heat stand third in the East, are undefeated at home, the only team to beat two East contenders on the road (Milwaukee, Toronto) and such an NBA surprise no one even seems to have realized they’re a surprise.
Five simple reasons in any order: 1. Bam Adebayo has become, as TNT’s Charles Barkley said, “a monster.”
2. The sizable impact of rookies Tyler Herro, Kendrick Nunn, Chris Silva and
(not technically a rookie) Duncan Robinson.
3. The addition by subtraction of problem children Hassan Whiteside and Dion Waiters.
4. Coach Erik Spoelstra’s recognition and creative use of all these new pieces.
5. Butler. He’s the centerpiece to it all. He had two recent tripledoubles. But he fills whatever lane you need. Both point guards, Justise Winslow and Goran Dragic, were out Sunday. Put Butler there.
Chicago’s top scorer, Zach LaVine, needs stopping? Butler held him to two points through much of the second half.
Butler’s shot wasn’t falling (he shot 3-of-14)? He made 17 of 21 foul shots.
Then, with the game on the line, he became The Closer, right?
“We figured he’d take the shot,’’ LaVine said of the Heat’s final possessions in regulation and overtime.
It’s what Butler made a career of, why the Heat paid him max money and how Butler defines himself.
“I figured they thought I was going to shoot the ball — which I was,’’ he said. “I just saw a guy with a cape on. Our Superman.”
Herro stood open at the 3-point line. Butler drove to collect the Chicago defense and then passed the ball to Herro. And again. And again. That helped Herro score 16 of the Heat’s final 18 points.
But even bigger was Butler showing again how this team has crossed a hurdle it took The Big Three much of the first season to do. That’s not to suggest The Baby Three (Herro, Nunn and Silva — work with me here, folks) are close to The Big Three.
“Trust,” was Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s mantra for getting marquee players like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to play together. It took a while, too.
Butler keeps showing he’s happy to work with these kids. That’s the right verb, too. Work gets to the heart of his self-identity. It’s why it fell apart in Chicago and Minnesota and why he fits the Heat like hand in hammer — why he passed the ball to Herro on Sunday night.
Even before meeting the rookie hope, Butler was told about him.
“You constantly had people in this organization saying he works, he’s going to be good, he likes tough love,’’ Butler said. “I was like, ‘OK.’ Then when you meet him it is that. He’s like, ‘Let’s get in the gym, let’s get in the gym, let’s get in the gym.’
“I’m like, ‘I’m with it.’ You’ll never hear me complain about working.”
This start, you see, doesn’t just confirm Butler’s trust in Herro. It does with everything bigger about his new home — Spoelstra, Pat Riley and the full Heat Way.
“I think this organization has a way of raising players, of finding diamonds in the rough,’’ he said. “They’re absolutely incredible at that. They’re turning [Herro] into a real player. Everyone knows he has the talent, that mental edge about him, but teaching him how to work every single day, that organization is perfect for him.”
Sure, it’s a doublehoneymoon period for the Heat right now between the new team and the winning. At some point the season will tilt south. Then we’ll see just how it all holds together. Maybe it happens over this coming, five-game stretch that includes games against the Lakers, at Dallas and at Philadelphia.
It’s early. But it’s not too early to see something’s happening here. It’s more than the wins. Those passes the big-ego veteran made to the rookie hope Sunday showed what this start needed: Butler is happy in his new home.