NBA FINALS: HEAT VS. NUGGETS

June 9, 2023

Jimmy Butler

Kyle Lowry

Miami Heat

Game 4: Postgame

Denver Nuggets 108, Miami Heat 95

Q. Jimmy, you play for Larry O'Brien. Knowing from here on out that the trophy will be in the building, what's the mentality on Monday night?

JIMMY BUTLER: Same thing it's always been, it's one game at a time. Now we are in a must-win situation every single game, which we're capable of. Some correctible things we've got to do, but it's not impossible. We've got to go out there and do it. We've got three to get.

Q. Kyle, they had 19 makes in the restricted area and 13 cuts. So even though Jokic or Murray didn't have the most efficient nights, what were they doing to get behind the defense?

KYLE LOWRY: I think we were up a little higher, trying to make sure that we showed bodies on there coming off the pick-and-roll. A couple of their cuts were kind of, you know, just random and kind of just landed in their lap.

But, you know, I think we just got to find a way to kind of keep the ball in front of us. It happened tonight. They got good cuts tonight.

Q. What is the biggest message you want to impart to the team the next couple days heading into Monday?

JIMMY BUTLER: No doubt. We don't have any of that. We don't have no quit. We are going to continually fight, starting tomorrow, to get better. And then we are going into Monday and do what we said we were going to do this entire time and win. We have to. We have no other choice. Otherwise, we did all this for no reason.

The guys know. We know. We've got something to do.

Q. I think this regular season was your highest efficiency offensively in your career. We saw that carry through the first round. This series it's been a little bit more up and down. Do you feel like it's just a matter of you not making shots you normally get, or is there another challenge that they have presented that's kind of hurt you that way?

JIMMY BUTLER: It's always a make-or-miss game. It's a make-or-miss league. I missed some shots. That's just part of it.

But I don't think missing shots for our team will ever make us win or lose a game. I think we had some lapses, and not getting back the cuts to offensive rebounds, those are the areas that we can control that we do have to fix. Whether I'm missing shots or somebody else is missing shots, those are the areas we have to be better.

Q. Is there a commonality to how you guys have overcome every obstacle you guys have faced this season? And if so, what's the approach to what will obviously be your greatest one?

JIMMY BUTLER: I think so. I think we really do believe in one another and ourselves as individuals. We've done some hard things all year long in this playoff run as well, and now it's like the hardest of the hard. But like we always say, you know, the things that you want is on the other side of hard is, I don't know what.

So that's where we're at. That's our reality, so we've got to go out and win three straight.

Q. You repeatedly said throughout this series that you're going to keep kicking the ball out to your shooters no matter if they are hitting shots or they miss nine in a row, you'll kick it out to them for a tenth. They have repeatedly struggled in this series. Do you feel like you need to be more aggressive yourself taking shots you don't normally want to take just to switch up the juju of the defense and try to get a different result?

JIMMY BUTLER: No, I won't do it. I got too much faith in my guys. Their shots will fall. They have been the reason behind us winning so many games, and I'm not letting that faith in them waver. I won't do it. I'm going to continue to play basketball the right way, pump confidence in those guys, and we are going to always live with the result.

Q. A question for both of you. Spo said that you guys are like made for that; that you need those games where you have a must-win situation. So would you both agree that you need those games, like the next upcoming, that you are in a must-win situation?

JIMMY BUTLER: Go ahead, Kyle.

KYLE LOWRY: I think we understand we have to thrive and we've got to win. I think it heightens our intensity. You know, I think it's win-or-go-home right now, and our intensity has been really high, but when you get into these situations, you have to really be focused on every second, literally every second.

Q. Gabe has talked throughout the playoffs about your mentorship and how much you helped him the past couple years, back-to-back tough games for him. What's your message to him to help him kind of get back on track going into Game 5?

KYLE LOWRY: I think just be ready to play. Gabe's been unbelievable this whole playoff run, this last couple months. Gabe is a tremendous basketball player. Our league is a make-or-miss league, and you have a guy in Jimmy Butler who is going to continue to pump confidence into him. I'm going to pump confidence into him. He's going to come out and have a great game in Game 5.

We are all going to get some rest, recover, and get on that plane tomorrow with the mission in mind.