'Playoff Jimmy' isn't enough for the Heat in Game 4

Butler put up 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Heat, with only one turnover. Though it was a bad one, with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope stripping him twice on one fourth-quarter possession, leading to a Bruce Brown layup.

The Heat, who had been shooting so well in the playoffs, reverted to their poor regular-season shooting from the perimeter. They went 8-25 on three-pointers on Friday, much closer to the fourth-worst three-point shooting team in the league that they were in the regular season than the team that made 43.4 percent of their threes against the Boston Celtics.

Bam Adebayo had 20 points in support of Butler, but there simply wasn't enough help from the other Miami players on offense. Gabe Vincent had just two points on 1-6 shooting while Max Strus posted a second scoreless Finals game. Kevin Love did have an unexpected 12 points, but Denver's starters outscored Miami's starters 83-59.

Some of that is the Heat's shooting regressing, but a big part was Denver changing their defensive approach. Rather than selling out hard and sending doubles against Butler, the Nuggets remained patient. He still racked up points and assists, but Denver stopped leaving his teammates as wide open from outside.

Butler has 53 points combined over the last two games of the Finals. But it's not going to matter how well Playoff Jimmy performs unless Eastern Conference Finals Gabe Vincent or Knicks Series Max Strus emerge in Game 5.