Three takeaways from Butler, Heat taking over clutch, taking over series vs. Celtics

After Game 1, my No. 1 takeaway was:

“The Heat’s execution is relentless. The Celtics’ is not.”

Copy and paste.

Friday night was another game where Jimmy Butler was the best player on the court, another game where the Heat executed what they wanted to do for 48 minutes and the Boston Celtics could not match it. The Heat are just dialed in on every screen, every rotation, every box out, they are doing all the little things for 48 minutes.

“It comes down to the details and margins,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “When we get a stop, when we force them into a difficult shot, we have to get the rebound. When we have open shots, we have to take them. When we draw two, we have to pass it.

“This is a series of discipline and mindset, and there was times throughout the game where we weren’t the more disciplined team.”

Especially the closing minutes. Miami took over late to get the 111-105 win and now leads the series 2-0 headed back home for Game 3 on Sunday.

Here are three takeaways from Game 2.

As the Washington Post’s Michael Lee noted, back in the summer of 2019, Jimmy Butler had options. He was leaving a superstar pairing in Philly and big names were recruiting him. All around the NBA, superstars were teaming up — Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George with the Clippers, Anthony Davis came to Los Angeles to partner with LeBron James, in Houston Russell Westbrook arrived to join MVP James Harden.

Jimmy Butler went his own route — no other stars. He went to Miami, where Dwyane Wade was retiring and Josh Richardson had been the leading scorer of a team that missed the playoffs. Butler, however, believed in the culture and the roster being built there with a young Bam Adebayo.

Butler looks