“He Has to Be the Superstar He Has Always Claimed to Be”- Stephen a Smith Challenges Jimmy Butler Ahead of the Third Game Against Bucs

Posted on by Jim Smarts

The Milwaukee Bucks thrashed Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat and took a 2-0 first-round play-off advantage over last year’s NBA Finals runners-up. In the 132-98 victory, the Bucks made 22 of 53 three-point attempts. Milwaukee takes a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven series with the victory. The next game will be held in Miami. Although Milwaukee’s attack was on fire, their defense in the first two games of this series has been outstanding. Jrue Holiday and P.J. Tucker have unquestionably benefited the team since their additions. 

Jimmy Butler was a force to reckon with last season when he played against Milwaukee in the postseason. So keeping him quiet would have been the first priority for the Bucks this season ahead of the playoffs. To get the job done, they assigned Giannis Antetokounmpo, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, as his primary defensive assignment. According to an interesting NBA stat, Butler is shooting just 2 out of seven across 46.6 partial possessions when he is guarded by Giannis Antetokounmpo. In fact, the ‘Greek Freak’ has conceded just five points from Butler while guarding him in the first two games of the playoffs. Butler is scoring 13.5 points per game so far, shooting an abysmal 8-for-32 from the field and 2-for-9 from beyond the arc. Milwaukee has done everything they can to stop the five-time All-Star as much as possible after learning from last season’s mistakes.

Stephen A. Smith reacts to Jimmy Butler saying he’s “excited” after the Miami Heat fell behind 2-0 in their first-round NBA Playoffs series with the Milwaukee Bucks on Stephen A. Smith’s World.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t understand why Jimmy Butler is excited. I heard the explanation but I don’t know why he is excited. I wouldn’t be excited that my team just lost by 34 to 4, 0-2 in the first-round series in the playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks. But the rest of what Jimmy Butler said, he was exactly right. We are going to find out a whole lot about the Miami Heat in game 3”

Stephen A. Smith added that everyone is going to learn about Duncan Robinson and Bam Adebayo if they are ‘legit or not. He also added that everyone will ‘definitely’ learn about Jimmy Butler.

“We are definitely going to learn the most about Jimmy Butler. Because while those other players are nice, they’re not the face of the franchise. Jimmy Butler is the face of the franchise. Jimmy Butler is the max player. Jimmy Butler is the one who propelled this team to the NBA finals last year. They got him two games in the finals but he hasn’t played like that guy so far in this series. (Butler) Shot just 4-22 in game one, 4-10 in game two. Game one, a game Miami easily would have won had he been able to hit anything. Game two, blown out of the gym trailing 46 to 20. In the first quarter, Butler only shot two of six. Jimmy Butler got to step up. He knows, everybody knows it. He has to be the superstar he has always claimed to be. The superstar Dwayne wade vouched for. To prove the real Jimmy Butler is the one from last year, not the one his critics have tried to diminish. The one we’ve seen in this series over the first two games.”

“We’re gonna learn a lot about the Heat on Wednesday but we’re gonna learn the most about Jimmy Butler. I believe in that, he is real, he’s legit. It’s time to show it. It can’t go down 0-3 to Milwaukee.”

Miami Heat is in trouble. There has never been an NBA team that has come back from a 3-0 series deficit. Miami needs Butler, who carried the team against the Los Angeles Lakers last season without the likes of Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo.