NBA FINALS: HEAT VS. NUGGETS

June 8, 2023

Jimmy Butler

Miami Heat

Practice Day

Q. Your shooting percentage obviously was incredible first three weeks of the Playoffs. Good now, not at that same level. With shooting percentages, is it luck? Is it who is defending you? Is there more than that in terms of what you've noticed with your footwork? Is there anything else you've noticed in terms of explaining it, your ankle, any factor?

JIMMY BUTLER: No, just some missed shots. It's part of the game. It'll get better.

But missed shots, made shots, we've just got to win because then nobody is paying attention to it. Which we will do. I will be better because whenever I'm better, we are better as a whole.

Q. I forgot to ask you yesterday, but there was a little bit of news in town with Lionel Messi coming to Inter Miami. As the football expert in the room and on the team, what was your reaction when you heard he was coming, and what do you think that means for soccer in this country?

JIMMY BUTLER: A lot of good. Obviously, he is one of the greatest players to play that beautiful game. I'm so excited for the city of Miami, to be able to have a player of that caliber here. I'm excited for the city of Miami in so many different ways. Obviously us being in the Finals and having an opportunity to do something special.

Now that he is here, I think all the football/soccer fans from all over the world are going to come here and get an opportunity to watch him compete. I'm glad he is here.

Q. We went to visit your coffee trailer yesterday. How do you grade your coffee? Is anybody else on the team drinking your coffee?

JIMMY BUTLER: I grade it 10 out of 10. Nobody on my team can afford it, so they don't want to go there and pay for it.

Q. Dwyane was at the game last night sitting next to Magic Johnson courtside. You two spent that year together in Chicago. It was a tumultuous year, but you said he turned you on to Heat culture. How important was you spending that season with him and you growing as a player during that time?

JIMMY BUTLER: It was very important. Yes, I did grow as a player, but I grew as like a person/leader because I just always remember the things he told me more often than anything is everybody doesn't go about things the way that you go about it. But there is an organization out there that does, that being this one.

He just told me everything that the Heat are about was about winning, and he wasn't doing anything that he wasn't supposed to be doing. I'm just saying he had been a legend here, still is, and he was just saying the reason he was who he was was because of the way that they went about things here, and he pointed me in this direction.

Q. Is it the resiliency, the character, the skills, or as you said, the art of not giving a damn? What makes you proud of representing the Heat culture, and what do you expect from this group tomorrow?

JIMMY BUTLER: Obviously, I expect to win. But what makes me proud is these guys are never out of the fight. They're so joyful because we're in this thing together through good and through bad. I'm proud of my guys for that. I love my guys for that.

Tomorrow we're going to come out with a lot more energy. We're going to compete at a high level. We're going to get one at home.

Q. Where is Tyler at mentally in your conversations? How is he holding up? What kind of boost can he give you guys this late in the series?

JIMMY BUTLER: I mean, obviously he has been huge in what we have done all year long. But I think his spirits are really high. He is doing everything that he can to come back and help.

I don't know where he is in that process, but I see him working. I see him smiling. I see him being around the guys, which is good for him and even better for us. We want him out there competing with us. We always have. We always will. But whenever he is ready, he'll be back, and he will be better than ever.

Q. There's been a number of times where you've had to switch on to Jokic out at the perimeter. I'm wondering, his shooting ability, what does that do in your decisions to close out? Does it got to be short, on the ball? How do you go about that decision-making process with a big that shoots it like that?

JIMMY BUTLER: Honestly, I can't even tell you the answer to it because he can shoot the ball, put the ball on the floor, pass the ball. You've just got to do everything you can to stay between him and the basket, trace the ball with both hands.

But he is a hell of a player. He has been very, very dominant everywhere on the floor. You're closing out one of the best players if not the best player in the world. It's a handful for anybody that is closing him out.

Q. Have you met Messi or know him enough to reach out and welcome him to Miami or anything like that?

JIMMY BUTLER: I wouldn't say that I know him enough, but I have met him before. Will I reach out? Probably not. I know he has probably got a ton of stuff going on anyway. He is coming over here to do something special for this city. I won't reach out. I'm happy that he is here, though. I really am. I know we will link whenever he is here.

Q. Bam's screens are such an important part of your offense. Just what makes him so effective, and how does he make your life easier?

JIMMY BUTLER: I mean, he gets me open a lot of the times. Then obviously you have to guard him whenever he is rolling, popping. Then when they get him the ball, he is getting the ball to everybody else and/or finishing or getting to the free-throw line.

He has been excellent throughout this entire playoff run, throughout the entire series and throughout the entire season. We need him to continually set screens, get out in transition and do everything that he has been doing to help us win.

Q. In the last game it seemed like Denver was more okay with playing you in that drop coverage two on two and not helping as much from the other positions. And also when you made those long dribbles, kind of Nash or Gretzky dribbles, they didn't help out as much as they did in the previous game. What's important in terms of, if they keep doing that, how to get your teammates involved, as well?

JIMMY BUTLER: Keep doing what I'm doing. Look to find my guys open on the perimeter, maybe dribble on the perimeter for some handoffs. Honestly, I can't tell you. I don't know. I've got to go back and watch it. But I know I'm going to find my guys. I have to find my guys if we want to win. So keep attacking and get the ball to my guys so they can get shots on goal.

Q. I talked to Omer Yurtseven from Turkey, and he said he is looking and he is observing every single move that you guys are making during the Finals. He is learning. What would you like to tell them to teach them more every day, day by day, to make them improve themselves in their careers?

JIMMY BUTLER: Being calm, not rattled, is like the best thing ever, knowing that everything is going to be okay, everything is going to be just fine. As long as you give it your all, you go into it every day knowing that you have an opportunity to do something special.

That is what we're doing here. We're having a lot of fun being and competing with one another. That is what we do. Stay calm, stay collected and go out there and do everything together.

Q. Everywhere you look in this organization it seems like there's some kind of underdog story. Even with Coach Spo, the way he came up. Even Pat Riley, the way he became coach of the Lakers. And obviously a lot of players, the way they got to the league and everything. What do you think that does for the chemistry of the team, to have all these people together?

JIMMY BUTLER: I don't think it does too much. I just think you have some really talented basketball players on the roster. You have some really genius coaches on the coaching staff and some super genius individuals in the front office. They get everybody on the same page. They get everybody chasing the same goal. They get everybody to give in to the team, let go of the self and really buy into what we're doing here as a whole. Underdog or not, that's just what it is here, and we love it.

Q. How do you evaluate your own performance, and if you have the opportunity to change something, what would you like to change?

JIMMY BUTLER: I wouldn't change anything. Not one thing. I continue to be who I am. We will continue to be who we are as a group, as a team. We're going to go out here and compete together. We're going to win together. We're going to be who we are. I wouldn't change a thing, though.

Q. I saw you were eating Puerto Rican food the other day. How was that mofongo, and how was that experience?

JIMMY BUTLER: It was good. Puerto Rican food, I'm a big foodie, so any opportunity I get to go be around the city, enjoy food, enjoy really good company with people I don't get to see every day, I'm fortunate to do that. I've got a lot of love for all types of food, but for sure all the food around Miami.