“Jimmy Butler pulls the chair on Giannis Antetokounmpo!”: Heat star shows off savvy basketball IQ after pulling a questionable move on Bucks MVP in Game 1

Jimmy Butler uses his smarts and pulls the chair on Giannis Antetokounmpo in the 1st quarter of Game 1 of Bucks-Heat. 

The ghosts of ‘Bubble’ past have come back to haunt Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks as the Miami Heat look to upset the 3rd seed in the first round of the Playoffs, as they did last season, having gentlemen swept them in the second round. The Heat did so by putting up the now infamous ‘Giannis wall’ where the Heat collapsed within the arc to help contain the 2x MVP’s drives to the rim. 

With 2 quarters done and dusted in today’s Bucks-Heat game, there have been some interesting developments. Everything from an ice cold start from Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler to the Bucks shooting less than 15% from beyond the arc from 3. Perhaps the two Eastern Conference juggernauts are just getting acclimated to a Playoff atmosphere. 

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There have been a couple highlights so far despite the inefficient shooting from both parties. Unsurprisingly so, the main highlight came from a non-made bucket involving both teams; superstars. 

Jimmy Butler pulled the chair on Giannis Antetokounmpo in the 1st quarter. 

As highlighted by the Miami Heat releasing a picture of Jimmy Butler looking absolutely shredded, the former Bull is quite strong when defending in the post. Along with this strength comes a level of IQ that helps make for a well above average defender down low. Merely 2 minutes into the game, Giannis tried to back down Butler. The latter wasn’t having it as he perfectly timed Giannis’s post-up and pulled the chair on him.

Jimmy Butler pulled the chair on Giannis 😯 pic.twitter.com/yjf9JWHnrp

— ESPN (@espn) May 22, 2021

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The ‘Greek Freak’ did get the offensive rebound on this play but clearly had his momentum and balance shifted from Butler’s savvy play, causing him to throw up a wild shot that ended up missing nearly everything. 

It’s plays like these that allow Jimmy Butler to stay on the court even when he’s 1-7 from the field. Everything from strong screens on lighter guards, deflections, offensive rebounding, and defense on the perimeter and down low, perfectly capture what makes Jimmy Butler so potent on either end of the floor.