Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Butler has playoff game face in place
Paul draws his ire with move against Robinson
When push comes to shove, Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler has made it clear he’s ready for the intensity of the NBA playoffs.
Chris Paul is now aware as well as the two head their separate conference ways.
With time winding down in the first half of Wednesday night’s 116-115 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Butler took umbrage at what he perceived as overly aggressive play by Paul.
And he did something about it. To reset: With 38.5 seconds left in the second quarter, Paul stole an inbounds pass from Butler in the Heat’s frontcourt and then, in order to save possession, threw the ball hard off the back of the head and neck of Heat guard Duncan Robinson.
It was a cringe-worthy moment considering the velocity of when ball met neck.
On the ensuing sequence, after Thunder forward Shai GilgeousAlexander drained a 3-pointer, Butler, with decided purpose, drove the court and crashed into Paul along the baseline, leading with his left shoulder.
Butler immediately was called for an offensive foul by referee Kevin Cutler, dropped the ball and simply walked the other way without complaint. Afterward, Butler said the incident was as appeared.
“You’re not going to throw the ball at my teammate like that,” he said. “So, yeah, I’ll get a turnover, an offensive foul. We don’t do that here.
“Mess with one of my guys, especially one of my shooters, they’re got to deal with me and everybody else.”
It already has been an emotional week for Butler, including Monday’s victory over Pacers foil T.J. Warren. Butler also won a statistical matchup after a contentious previous outing against the emerging Indiana forward.
For the Heat, it all has been part of a heated buildup to what is setting up as a heated first-round series against the Pacers, a bestof-seven matchup that opens early next week.
For Robinson, the Chris Paul experience was as good as any playoff warmup, especially for a player yet to experience the NBA postseason. Robinson said he wasn’t sure exactly what got Paul so riled, as the two traded words moments before the incident in question.
“I told him, I shot-faked in the corner and I should have shot it,” Robinson said, again defended by an undersized physical defender. “And we just kind of went back and forth a little bit. Nothing out of the ordinary for an NBA game.
“But he’s a really talented player, well renowned. I have a lot of respect for him, but he also competes.
“And I’m not one to back down from a challenge in that regard. Like I said, [a] ton of respect for him, [but] in that moment it was just a heat-of-the-moment type of thing.”
With the Heat featuring so many young players, especially playoff neophytes such as Robinson, Tyler Herro, Kendrick Nunn and Derrick Jones Jr., Robinson suspects that the head games are only beginning.
“Guys try to get a little bit more physical, get me out of rhythm,” he said, with the Heat concluding their regular season Friday at 4 p.m. against the Pacers in a game that has no impact on postseason seeding.
“The talking is player to player. Some guys talk more than others, so it’s not necessarily something that I’ve seen consistently. But some guys do it. From my perspective, I just try to stay locked in on what I do and continue to impact winning.”
For his part, Paul said it is nothing more than continuing to play with a chip on his shoulder.
“It’s nice to know that we’ve got our playoff seed locked up,” Paul said, with Oklahoma City locked into a No. 4-No. 5 firstround Western Conference matchup against the Houston Rockets after being expected to finish in the lottery this season.
“We weren’t supposed to be here. They gave us a 2 percent chance to make the playoffs. So we’re just going to keep grinding and keep hooping.”