‘He can’t guard me’: Jimmy Butler mocks Giannis Antetokounmpo after scoring on the defensive player of the year

Jimmy Butler outscored the entire Milwaukee Bucks team by himself in the 4th quarter today, insulting Giannis as he did so.

The Milwaukee Bucks headed into the 4th quarter with a 12-point lead in their hands. This was despite the Miami Heat shooting at a reasonable clip from 3-point range. Giannis had picked up an ankle niggle in the first quarter and was therefore not as impactful as he could have been.

Jimmy Butler to Giannis: ‘He can’t guard me’

Butler began his onslaught with a tip-in shortly after subbing in for Kendrick Nunn, with nearly 10 minutes left to play. He then drew two shooting fouls, one each on Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez.

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The defining moment of the Giannis-Butler showdown came with 3 and a half minutes left in the game. Butler beat Giannis off the dribble and banked in a pretty hook shot, before looking to the Bucks bench and yelling ‘He can’t guard me’. By this time, Butler had already had 15 points in the period.

Jimmy Buckets finished with 30 points on the night, with 17 of those coming in just the 4th quarter. He has shouldered the scoring burden in 2 games out of 3 this series. In both games, the Heat were down by double digits for significant stretches of the game and absolutely needed an alpha scorer to create for himself.

The way Butler has been playing in this series, one has to question whether it is justified to place him below the tier of ‘Giannis-level’ players among the NBA’s elite. He’s certainly been outplaying the soon-to-be 2-time MVP in the 4th quarters of games.