After an awful shooting display, the Miami Heat lost Game 1 of their NBA Finals series against the Denver Nuggets. With the Nikola Jokic-Jamal Murray duo combining for a sensational 53/16/24 for the Nuggets, Jimmy Butler and co. lost the first Game 1 of their 2023 postseason campaign. Like he’s been doing throughout the playoffs, Butler decided to regroup by staying away from basketball after the loss. While fans expected the 6-foot-7 forward to work even harder on his craft to facilitate a strong comeback, Jimmy Buckets decided to play some Spades, spend time with his daughter, and go to an escape room.
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When players don’t seem to perform well, fans have a nasty habit of over-examining all their moves on and off the court. The naysayers will find any reason to criticize the players, especially during the intensity of the playoffs.
Butler was subjected to a lot of flak after a tough Game 5 loss against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. Social media couldn’t stop trolling the 33-year-old after the tough loss and even brought up the “beer” and “wine” comments he made in the post Game 4 press conference. The situation only worsened after Game 6. Similarly, Butler has received another wave of backlash after revealing his activities following the setback in the first game of the series,
Jimmy Butler takes some time off basketball
The iconic Miami Heat culture, championed by the likes of Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra over the years, exemplifies hard work to drive results. Butler has been widely regarded as the current torchbearer of the respected culture. Viral videos of the Heat star putting in the extra effort during the playoffs have become a staple on NBA Twitter. So Butler talking about taking some time off basketball during the NBA Finals could be a hard pill to swallow for many fans.
Ahead of Game 2, during the media availability, the two-way superstar mentioned how he would take his mind off basketball at times to unwind. Following Thursday’s loss, the six-time All-Star revealed that he played some Spades, spent some time with his daughter, and is planning to go to an escape room.
Going on a soliloquy about being “normal”, the 2023 ECF MVP mentioned how he did these things in order to compose himself.
“I’m gonna do an escape room tonight. I think my guys went and saw Spider-Man today, just doing normal stuff because, at the end of the day, I’m as normal as they come. It’s not always about basketball. It will never always be about basketball. That’s how I regroup, I stay consistent in that because that’s what I know I can fall back on. Me and my guys, they’re gonna love me whether I win or lose. My daughter’s gonna love me whether I win or lose. That’s what I focus on.”
Butler had a similar statement after the ECF’s Game 4 loss. Shifting his focus away from the game, he mentioned how he planned on having “beers” and “wines”.
“Do the same things that I do, that we do after every game. We’re going to listen to some music, you know. Going to drink some beers back there. Going to have some wine. I don’t think you can just focus on basketball at times. You have to be able to get away from the game a little bit.”
