The Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler has been nothing short of spectacular in the 2020 NBA Finals, putting up an all-time performance that has his team two wins away from an extremely improbable championship.
And although LeBron James – who has been outstanding in his own right – and the Los Angeles Lakers will be heavily favored to close out the series in either Game 6 or Game 7, Butler has done everything in his power to extend the series this far, at least.
Butler has been so excellent, in fact, that his production thus far in the Finals is reaching historical proportions.
By leading his team in points (29.0), rebounds (8.6), assists (10.2), steals (2.6) and blocks (0.8), Butler is just the second player in NBA history to lead his team in every major statistical category in a Finals series.
The only other player ever to have done that? That’d be Butler’s championship foe this year, LeBron James, who did just that in 2016 for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
That’s an absolutely insane accomplishment for Butler, one that also shows how little help he’s getting from his supporting cast.
That is to be expected, though, as Miami, without Goran Dragic due to injury and being forced to play a clearly ailing Bam Adebayo, doesn’t have much firepower outside of Butler right now, forcing the five-time All-Star to do pretty much everything for his team, including defending James – no easy feat on its own, let alone when your team’s entire offense has to go through you, too.
And yet, Butler is doing a fantastic job of stepping up to the plate and doing whatever the Heat needs of him – and doing so with aplomb.
Remember when people questioned whether or not Butler was a winning player before this season? That was fun.
Nevertheless, whether Miami can complete a miraculous comeback in the Finals or if they do drop the series in Game 6, one thing is for certain: Butler has proven himself as a top-of-the-totem-pole elite player all playoffs long, particularly in the Finals.