By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler believes that his team has the strength to bounce back in the NBA Finals series against the Denver Nuggets after falling behind 1-3 following back-to-back losses at home.
“Now we are in a must-win situation every single game, which we’re capable of,” Butler said. “Some correctible things we’ve got to do, but it’s not impossible. We’ve got to go out there and do it. We’ve got three to get.”
The Heat will need to repeat something done only once before in NBA history. All teams that have trailed 1-3 in the Finals eventually lost the series, except the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 when they accomplished an epic comeback vs. the Golden State Warriors to win the championship.
Butler and his teammates have shown time and again how resilient they are and now must prove it once more.
“I think we really do believe in one another and ourselves as individuals,” Butler mentioned. “We’ve done some hard things all year long in this playoff run as well, and now it’s like the hardest of the hard. But like we always say, you know, the things that you want is on the other side of hard is, I don’t know what.
“So that’s where we’re at,” Butler added. “That’s our reality, so we’ve got to go out and win three straight.”
Kyle Lowry is one of the few Miami Heat players who have won a championship, together with team captain Udonis Hasleem and veteran forward Kevin Love. The latter was actually a member of the above-mentioned Cavs squad in 2016.
For Lowry, a key aspect will be transforming pressure into extra motivation and taking advantage of it to increase the team’s effort level.
“I think we understand we have to thrive and we’ve got to win,” Lowry said. “I think it heightens our intensity. You know, I think it’s win-or-go-home right now, and our intensity has been really high, but when you get into these situations, you have to really be focused on every second, literally every second.”
The Heat had trouble making their 3-point shots in Game 2 and 3, finishing with 11-35 and 8-25 respectively. When they won in Game 2, they had 17-35 triples.
Shooters like Gabe Vincent and Max Strus have particularly struggled. Vincent registered 1-10 3-pointers in the Miami games while Strus had 1-7.
When asked about it, Butler answered that he’ll continue trusting his teammates and sending them the ball when he sees them open.
“I got too much faith in my guys,” Butler said. “Their shots will fall. They have been the reason behind us winning so many games, and I’m not letting that faith in them waver. I won’t do it. I’m going to continue to play basketball the right way, pump confidence in those guys, and we are going to always live with the result.”