Jimmy Butler guarantees Heat win more than Celtics: ‘We can and will win this series’

Getty Pictures

The Miami Heat appear to have won the Eastern Conference Finals as lately as Sunday. When they won Game three against the Boston Celtics, they extended their streak to three-. No NBA group has ever blown a three- series lead, but the Celtics are producing a powerful push toward history with massive wins in Games four and five. Now the Heat are on the defensive and play their final property game of the series on Saturday when they host Boston in Game six.

It really is a game the Heat totally count on to win. At least that is what Jimmy Butler thinks, who assured a win soon after Miami’s Game five loss. “We will often keep constructive being aware of that we can and will win this series,” Butler he told reporters. “We’ll just have to lock him up at property.”

Household teams are commonly heavy favorites in any playoff game, in particular the ones that come later in the series. The Celtics could be the uncommon exception. Boston has really been far better on the road this postseason (five-three) than it has been at property (five-five). More than a extended normal season sample, Miami’s property record (27-14) wasn’t a lot far better than Boston’s (25-16), and the Celtics had a far better net rating (plus-three.three) than Miami at property (plus-1.1) . The Heat will have property-court benefit in Game six, but the numbers say it will not be a lot of an benefit.

It was the similar final season, when these two teams met in the playoffs, and the property group won only two out of seven games. That integrated a Game 7 win for Boston on their way to the NBA Finals. Of course, Butler practically prevented that victory with a profession-very best two games to finish that streak. He scored 47 points in Game six to proficiently make the Eastern Conference Championship by 1 game a season ago, then almost stole Game 7 with a 35-point masterpiece. He was 1 3-pointer quick.

Butler has been even far better for a lot of this postseason, top the No. eight seed to the brink of the NBA Finals for the 1st time due to the fact the 1999 Knicks got there. But Game six will present his toughest challenge however. The Heat have lost two games in a row. They are missing two crucial players in Tyler Hero and Victor Oladipo, and Gabe Vincent could also be out soon after sitting out Game five with a sprained ankle. The onus will be on Butler to win this game for Miami, and if his postgame comments on Thursday have been any indication, he plans to do just that.