The Miami Heat struggled in Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets. Jimmy Butler could not stop thinking about what he and his team would do for Game 2. Butler was determined not to let this struggle affect the rest of the series, so he hit the gym, joined by his longtime trainer Chris Brickley. Butler spent 30 minutes taking shots just to get his touch back.
“He just likes figuring things out,” Brickley told ESPN. “When he’s making those short shots, everything is different. So, we worked on it. He needs to see the ball go in,” Brickley said. “The games that he hasn’t done that [before the game], he hasn’t played well. He’s big on that. It’s a mental thing”.
This is what Butler and the Heat have been doing during the eighth-seeded Heat’s run to the NBA Finals – figuring out what needs to be done to win and then going out and doing it. If they are going to go all the way this year, they need to keep that focus. Who the Heat are is a team that keeps figuring out how to win games and series against teams that are heavily favored, no matter how gut-wrenching a loss they’ve just weathered.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra dismissed the characterization the Heat had simply chosen to turn Jokic into a scorer Sunday to take away his playmaking. “That’s a ridiculous – that’s the untrained eye that says something like that,” Spoelstra said. “This guy is an incredible player. You know, twice in two seasons he’s been the best player on this planet. You can’t just say, ‘Oh, make him a scorer.’ That’s not how they play. They have so many different actions that just get you compromised”. Strategy and adjustments are the way to victory for the Heat, and they will do whatever necessary to get the win.
