MIAMI — The question for a month now has been simple and to the point: What happens to the Miami Heat if Jimmy Butler is not great?
The answer was provided in Wednesday night’s 112-103 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Because of that, Erik Spoelstra’s team now faces a heightened sense of desperation for arguably the first time since the play-in round a month ago.
It’s not as if Butler was necessarily off by overall playoff standards in the Game 5 loss to the Knicks, when he closed with 19 points.
Just by his standards.
Entering Wednesday, Butler had scored at least 25 points in each of his eight playoff appearances, averaging 33.5 points.
Still with a 3-2 lead over the Knicks in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series entering Friday’s 7:30 p.m. Game 6 at Kaseya Center, the Heat’s only other loss in the series was when Butler sat out Game 2 with an ankle sprain that has required ongoing treatment.
With an effort Wednesday night that also included nine assists, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots, Butler brushed aside the question of whether the Knicks had found a way to get his scoring in check.
“I was making all the right plays,” he said. “I’m not a scorer, anyways. So I don’t know how many I had, like 19 or something like that. That’s enough for us to win. If we make a couple more shots, I don’t think that question is asked the exact same way.”
Unlike his dominant performances in the series, Butler shot only 5 of 12 in Game 5, a combination of the Knicks increasing the volume of their double teams and Butler not looking as spry on that balky right ankle.
“It doesn’t matter if I score 40 or 50, 19 or nine,” he said. “We always have enough to win. And if I score 10 points next game and we win, that won’t be an issue, it won’t be a question and I will continue to play the right way.”
While the Knicks have shifted to Quentin Grimes as the primary defender against Butler, Spoelstra downplayed that switch away from Josh Hart.
“It’s the playoffs,” he said. “Sometimes you’re not going to get all the clean looks that you would like, and you’ve got to figure out how to get the job done, even if you win it ugly. You have to credit them defensively.
“Both sides, it’s team defense. You’re not like on an island, either way, where you’re just able to go to work on somebody and pick on a matchup. Both teams are well-schooled, well-drilled and have a kind of competitive spirit. So you’ve got to work the game and make plays.”
All amid desperation.
For the Knicks, that meant playing Grimes and Jalen Brunson all 48 minutes Wednesday night. For Spoelstra, it meant playing Butler all 24 minutes in the second half, 42:43 overall.
“I did have an inclination to maybe get him out at some point,” Spoelstra said of Butler. “I just wanted to see if we could take the lead.”
If more is needed, Butler said, then more can be provided.
“I’m never surprised with anything come playoff basketball time,” Butler said of his playing time and that of the Knicks’ starting backcourt. “Your best is needed for all 48 minutes and more if you’re going into overtime. If Spo tells me to play 48 minutes, I will be suited and booted and ready to do that and we’ll win.”
For Butler, the postgame was as deliberate as the way he probes the defense. He sat for an extended period at his locker treating his ankle. He then was last among Heat players to address the media.
Through it all, he said confidence remains, still with the chance to avoid returning to Madison Square Garden for a Monday 8 p.m. Game 7.
“The one thing about it I like is we got the same energy in the locker room,” he said. “We’re going to play music, we’re going to laugh. We’re going to be in this thing together, like I always say, through the game, the bad, the wins and the losses, knowing that when we go back home, we’re going to be in this thing together for a win.”
