Entire thread is full of the same shyt I complained about in the Jazz thread. So many posters can only talk about basketball with names and narratives. You don't give a shyt how well anyone actually plays, just what names were on the court and what narratives you can build from that.
Butler hasn't had a clearly all-time game since the 1st round, and has only had 1-2 great games in that span. The last two rounds he's averaging 25-7-6 on 42% shooting with hardly any threes, which in this era isn't something to brag home about. Last time he took over a game by actually making shots was, what, Game 1 of the ECF?
I mean, we're talking about a guy who barely beat out Caleb Matin 5 votes to 4 votes as the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, but somehow he's having the GOAT run? So Caleb Martin is having the 2nd-greatest run ever?
Come on, man. This entire post is kinda-sorta-plausibly objective but really just dripping with selective reasoning and possibly contempt.
"Butler hasn't had a clearly all-time game since the 1st round"
He had one of the greatest games in playoff history and one of the legendary playoff series in NBA history. The bar can't be "do that again" or else this doesn't count as a great run.
He pretty much ranks top 2 or top 4 for all the playoffs in PER, WS, and WS per 48. He's contributing to winning more than just about anyone, on the biggest stage, despite taking toradol shots for his back and dealing with a significant ankle sprain. Also, in spite of those injuries he has had several great games across the last two series, running the Heat offense, guarding his ass off, getting out in transition, and closing as usual (even in his abysmal game 6, he closed that game the fukk out. The Heat lost on a fluke. shyt happens).
"I mean, we're talking about a guy who barely beat out Caleb Matin 5 votes to 4 votes as the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, but somehow he's having the GOAT run? So Caleb Martin is having the 2nd-greatest run ever?"
You know very well that Caleb Martin getting 4 ECF MVP votes doesn't mean anything about Jimmy's run, or Caleb having the second best run because for a single series he caught fire. Stop. That's convoluted for the sake of diminishing Butler. And anyone watching the game knows how much Caleb and everyone else benefits from JB getting deep in the paint and then kicking out to open shooters. Or Jimmy attacking baseline, drawing attention, and rotating the ball via Bam to open shooters. Caleb also got himself some big time iso buckets, and I won't take away from his moment because I'm happy for him and he deserves the love.... but that team runs through Jimmy, and works because of Jimmy. His shooting % drop can be attributed to how much he's expected to do on both ends, while injured (and without complaint). And as not-great as those shooting splits were, I recall people clamoring to give the Finals MVP to Bron when he posted 39.8/31/68 splits in a series he lost in six games. Similar concept. Jimmy deserved the MVP because overall he did a lot more than Caleb, on a possession by possession basis, on both ends, facing a defense designed to stop him.
The other nonsensical (and prototypical coli) talking point in this thread: "Jimmy almost had the biggest collapse in NBA history" which ranks even higher than "KD was gonna win the chip if he had a smaller foot" trope. That's just a weird way of saying "in a 7 game series, the Heat won 4 games." Winning the conference finals doesn't come with some sort of asterisk because "the other team made it closer than people thought." Also, the Heat at no time almost lost the series. They came out in Game 7 and blew the hinges off the door, on the home court of a legit season-long title contender. The game was never in danger.
What Jimmy has done is pretty damn mythical. The dude is tough, he loves his teammates and they love him, he takes accountability, he never whines about his injuries, and he goes hard on both ends. He has an 8 seed that was 3 minutes from being out of the final play-in competing for a championship. There hasn't been a series where they had a clear overall talent advantage. They keep winning. It's a fun story to boot.
