NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS VS. HEAT

September 15, 2020

Jimmy Butler

Miami Heat

Game 1: Postgame

Miami Heat 117, Boston Celtics 114 - OT

Q. What was your favorite moment, either your drive to put you guys on top for good or what Bam did?

JIMMY BUTLER: Bam. That seals the game for us. I love how he does anything and everything that you ask him to do, I really do. You ask him to pass the ball he does that. Ask him to score, does that. Come up with a huge defensive stop block, did that. He's a huge part to why we're winning. I've been saying it all year long and I'll repeat it again.

Q. Spo said and he's right, a lot of guys in that moment, they are going to get posted. He was not afraid of that and Jayson, he had a good run at it.

JIMMY BUTLER: He definitely did. We're not worried about that. We understand, in this league, it happens. It happens. But that's a winning play, putting your body on the line and then rotating the way that he did. We talk about it. We go through it over and over but Bam's been our savior on that so many different times throughout the year.

Q. Can you take us through that sequence?

JIMMY BUTLER: It was a play call. I think it was Jae who set a great screen of screening the zone and just getting downhill and making a play. I think that my teammates have the most faith in me to make a basket or to make a right pass out of that, and I came up with a bucket.

Q. How important was it for Goran to keep you guys afloat while you were finding your legs so that other guys could be positioned like you with Tyler and Bam at the end?

JIMMY BUTLER: Goran is so smart, and he's telling everybody where to be out there on the floor. He was huge in putting the ball in the basket. He rebounded the ball well. I think he had seven boards tonight, huge. Passed it. He's another one that it's like, you really have to guard this guy; if you pay too much attention to him, somebody else is going to do that. I tell you, we have so many guys that are capable of doing that.

Q. You've been preaching to Tyler all season that there's more than just scoring. How impressed were with you his all-around performance tonight in his first Conference Finals game to finish with a [near] triple-double?

JIMMY BUTLER: That's crazy. He had, what 11 rebounds and nine assists? He was out there hooping. He's comfortable. He's confident. We continue to tell him to be that way no matter what game we're in. We need you to play that way. He's been preparing for this moment all year long. There's nothing that we're not comfortable with him doing, and he shows up day after day and night after night.

Q. You guys have been dominating games in these playoffs and continued obviously tonight, and you were good late in the fourth quarter and in overtime. What is it about those situations that brings the best out of this team as far as execution?

JIMMY BUTLER: I don't think it's just execution. I think we're in really, really, really good shape. You know, mentally, and whenever you're not tired physically, you can concentrate. You can remember plays. You can do this and you can do that. We pride ourselves on that and I think as of late, we have been playing great basketball. Now we just have to do it for the entire game. We have yet to do that.

Q. You've been talking about since training camp the guys around you, you said we have some dogs on this team, yet when they do it in the playoffs, everybody gets to see it. I know you knew this but is there a level of satisfaction seeing them do this on this stage where everybody else in the world can see this?

JIMMY BUTLER: Not for me, no. I know what all of these guys bring to the table and how everybody's ready because their time is going to come; like one minute, two minutes, 30 seconds. All our guys are so locked in over there.

But they just work at it. They are comfortable. They know that they have been doing this so many hours, so many days, when the cameras aren't on, when the lights aren't the brightest. So whenever they come out here, it's easy for them.

Q. The faith your teammates have you to make big plays late what does that mean to you, the responsibility of that, and what is your mindset late in the game? Is there a sense of calm, knowing you have to make something happen because of that faith?

JIMMY BUTLER: Yeah, of course, I think I'm just calm because I know my role. I know what I'm supposed to do down the stretch. Of course Spo is barking at me to make a play or to get a bucket, something like that.

But I mean, my teammates are the same way. I think we do a great job of knowing where the ball has to go, who has a mismatch. And that's the part where Goran comes in and him saying, look, this is what we are doing, or Bam or Jae, all the way down the line, everybody knows where the ball has to go.

Q. Magic Johnson tweeted that he thought Bam's block was the best defensive play he has ever seen in the playoffs. Besides the actual moment in the game, what do you think would make Magic rule that the No. 1 play he's ever seen in the playoffs?

JIMMY BUTLER: It was a huge play. It was. Obviously coming from him, a player of his caliber, he knows. He's been there. He's won it. And that's what it takes to win championships, defense like that. It sealed the game for us are.

And I would agree with him, I really would. I think that what Bam did to save that game and to make sure that we win it by putting his body on the line, that really is a really great play.

Q. Secondly, not many NBA players would have the audacity to take the shots that you took tonight in those moments. They pass the ball off and hope someone else will get it done and I know you feel your teammates are relying on you, but what inside of you makes you able to step up and make shots like that against one of the best defenders in the game?

JIMMY BUTLER: Just do what I'm told to do. I think that the game comes easy to you. You take what the game gives you, and then my teammates know where I'm going to be at on the floor. The thing is, if I don't shoot that and I pass it, my teammate is going to make it or they are going to make the right play. That's the way we've played all year long. It was me tonight. The next game, it will be Goran. It will be Bam. It will be Tyler; he's done it countless amounts of times, or Jae. It's not just me who does that. It's everybody on this team.

Q. From the angle that you had on Bam's block, Tatum looks like he's pretty much already there and he's got the angle. Did you think it was possible for him to get there?

JIMMY BUTLER: Yeah. You have to be there. Bam knew that. You know, we're going into it thinking, you know, no threes, so you've just got to funnel the ball into the paint and Bam was there, as he's been countless amount of times for me and for everyone else.

Like I said, he saved us and he's done it countless amounts of time, so I know that he's going to be there.

Q. Just wanted to follow up on this quickly. Through the years, you prided yourself on your confidence and the ability to deliver no matter the circumstances. But do you feel like even your confidence has grown a little bit in the last couple months, especially on the playoff stage with the way that you keep delivering when it matters the most?

JIMMY BUTLER: No, I don't think so. I think my confidence in my guys grows every single second because they are not scared of anything, of any moment, of any team, of any shot.

That's where my confidence is. I have all the faith in the world in these guys to make sure that we have an opportunity to win, and I'm glad I get to be part of the leaders that we have here.