NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: CELTICS VS. HEAT

September 19, 2020

Jimmy Butler

Miami Heat

Game 3: Postgame

Boston Celtics 117, Miami Heat 106

Q. You were able to close up the lead towards the end. Tell me about the no-quit attitude that this team has.

JIMMY BUTLER: We've never given up. But I think it gets old, playing from behind, consistently, especially against a great team like Boston and what they bring to the table.

So yeah, we don't quit, but don't want to -- I don't want to say ever, but we just have to put ourselves in a position to play our type of basketball from the jump.

Q. Can you sum up sort of one idea of why you guys lost this game?

JIMMY BUTLER: We didn't play hard enough. I think we didn't do anything that we said that we were going to do. We knew how they were going to attack us. We weren't helping each other. We weren't making an extra pass a lot of the times. We have to play basketball the way we have been playing the games that we have been winning. We understand that.

There's nothing that Coach can say. There's nothing that OG can say. We get it. We have to be the ones to fix that.

Q. Sixty points in the paint for them. I know you're going to break down the film, but where were the breakdowns defensively that had them getting to the rim so often?

JIMMY BUTLER: We just got to stay in front of our man. Simple as that. I think we put too much on Bam to always be there, and he can't save us every single time. He's great at help defense and he's great on the ball but he already does enough for us. You can't just get beat and expect for Bam to come and save you every time.

Q. You mentioned Bam. What did you see from him tonight?

JIMMY BUTLER: He did everything he could to try to will us to this win all game long, passing the ball, guarding. Obviously scoring and rebounding the basketball. We need him to continue to play like that, which he will. We'll bounce back.

Q. How important has the counsel of Team Captain Udonis Haslem been throughout the playoff run, and what advice did he give the guys in the locker room after the loss?

JIMMY BUTLER: That this is part of basketball. You know, we want to win them all. Sometimes you don't. All in all, we just have to play harder, play more together and be more locked in. Not going to say that we thought that this was going to be easy because that's not the case but we've got to put up a lot more fight from the jump, be the nastier team. Be the more scrappier team. That's what he said at halftime and before the game and after the game. Hopefully we'll understand that coming into the next time we play.

Q. You guys had 21 assists, which seems a little low with the way you guys play. Offensively, did you like the looks you guys got?

JIMMY BUTLER: Always like the looks that we have. Like I said earlier, I don't think we made the extra pass a lot of the time. And that's not because anybody on our team is selfish. That's definitely not the case.

I just think sometimes we take it upon ourselves to try to get us back in the game. You know, I'm never complaining about anybody's shots, but on the defensive end, I think that's when we definitely didn't help each other. So got to be better on that part.

Q. How do you feel to be a leader for this young team in a Conference Finals and the way the team is playing right now?

JIMMY BUTLER: I think we're playing well. I think we can play better. I love going to work with these guys, though. I say it time and time again. Now we really see what we're made of. They won a game. You can say that they have the momentum. Now it's up to us to come in and win the next one. We're definitely capable of it. We have a lot to fix and we've got to get back to playing basketball the way we know how.