Heat small forward Jimmy Butler has a pretty right-to-the-point summary of what went down in the 2020 NBA playoffs. Via the South Florida Sun Sentinel:
“We play this game to win. We didn’t do that, and that’s all that matters. I think we all have things that we want to be better at, what you could have changed. But, in the end, we get another crack at it now, and that’s what I’ll be locked in on, and that’s what we’ll be locked in on is: How can we be better and not let what happened last year happen again?” …
Coach Erik Spoelstra said Monday it very much mattered the way Butler pushed himself to the limit in his first season with the team.
“The image of Jimmy just emptying the tank and being on the basket stanchion,” he said of the iconic Finals photos of utter exhaustion, “that’s an iconic visual that not only we’ll remember, but I think that will be a teaching point. I’ve already heard from a lot of my coaching peers in college and high school, they talk about that, that if you can push yourself to that point as a competitor, that’s when you can find out really what you’re made of.”
The Heat exceeded all expectations, reached the Finals, put up a good fight but fell in six games to the Lakers.
