Winning the Eastern Conference Finals is definitely a team effort – someone should remind the Miami Heat of that.
The Heat got positively ruined by the Boston Celtics on Thursday night, falling 127-102 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Jimmy Butler easily led his team with 29 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists.
The rest of the team, on the other hand, was mostly MIA.
Summary of Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals…
Jimmy Butler: Heat starters:
70 points 74 points
23-of-37 FG 26-of-57 FG
23-of-26 FT 8-of-14 FT pic.twitter.com/O536h0l753— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 20, 2022
When comparing Butler to the other starters for the Heat during the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals, you can see a huge discrepancy.
Butler has put up 70 points and has shot 23-of-37 from the field and has landed 23 of his 26 free throws.
Meanwhile, the rest of the starters have scored 74 points combined, have only landed 26 of their 57 field goals, and are 8-of-14 from the free-throw line.
Butler needs help – and he needs it soon because the series is moving to Boston.
Jimmy Buckets
No one is upset about Butler being the best player on his team.
He has long been Miami’s leader and primary point-maker.
But he will not be able to carry this team on his own.
Unless the rest of the starters step it up and start supporting Butler more, the team will face more losses like Thursday’s.
Only one other starter in Thursday’s game was in double digits – Gabe Vincent with 14 points.
To make matters even worse, only Victor Oladipo and Tyler Herro (both coming off the bench) were the other players to score more than 7 points.
Boston brought all of the Heat to a crawl and that cannot continue if Miami hopes to make the NBA Finals.
If the Heat want to win they need to start acting like an actual team.
NEXT: Heat Dealing With Concerning P.J. Tucker Injury