MIAMI — Jimmy Butler doesn't mince words. As he sits just three wins away from his first NBA championship, Butler is honest about what winning a title for the Miami Heat would be to him in his 12th professional season. «Everything,» Butler told ESPN. «What are you talking about?
That's why everybody plays this game. I lied — that's why a lot of people play this game — is to win a championship. Everybody here — is to win a championship.
That's all we lock in on, that's all we're focused on. Like we put so much energy towards winning and playing for one another that if we do this together, we get to celebrate this together, we're like, I don't know the word, itched, niched, we made our mark in history together forever, so we're in that.» As Butler, 33, comes into Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night, he does so as the driving force behind the Heat's surprising run.
The Heat are just the second No. 8 seed in NBA history to reach the Finals and Butler has been at the center of Miami's wins over the No.