Miami Heat small forward Jimmy Butler will never lose confidence in his teammates despite what happened in Game 1 of the 2023 NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets.
Duncan Robinson, Caleb Martin and Max Strus shot a combined 2-of-23 from the field and 2-of-16 from beyond the arc in Game 1, but Butler is going to continue to trust his guys.
“I’m going to continue to play the right way,” Butler said. “I’m going to pass the ball to my shooters the way I have been playing the entire playoffs, the entire year. But yeah, I think I’ve got to be more aggressive putting pressure on the rim. I think that makes everybody’s job a lot easier. [My teammates] definitely follow suit whenever I’m aggressive on both sides of the ball. So I have to be the one to come out and kick that off the right way, which I will, and we’ll see where we end up.”
The Heat lost Game 1 to the Nuggets by 11 points. Butler doesn’t care how many shots his teammates miss. The All-Star swingman will always instill confidence in his guys since that’s the kind of teammate he is.
“Yeah, I need to say to them, ‘I’m still going to throw you the ball.’ And if you miss the next 10, when you’re open on that 11th one, I’m still going to throw you the ball because you’ll never be the reason why we lose,” Butler said. “It’s always a group effort. I want you to take the same shots because they are going to be there. We are going to throw you the ball.”
The Heat have won on the road in every series thus far in the 2023 playoffs. They will need to win at least one game on the road against the Nuggets to capture the 2023 championship.
“Stay aggressive because you’ve been the reason that we have won so many games before,” Butler said. “You are going to be the reason that we win games now, and that’s never going to change. I have a lot of faith in those guys. I’m in their corner, Bam is in their corner, Coach [Spoelstra], Coach Pat [Riley], everybody. So, when everybody is in your corner, you only have one job to do: Shoot the ball.”
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