The Colorado Springs Gazette final

Heat heads home leading Celtics 2-0

MIAMI • Jimmy Butler is Miami’s leader this postseason in points, minutes, assists and steals per game. He’s the sommelier at team dinners. He’s the barista when it’s time for coffee.

If all that wasn’t enough, he’s also the DJ.

When music blares in the Heat locker room, Butler is almost always in charge. Could be gospel, could be Whitney Houston, could be Nickelback and — as it was after Miami’s 111-105 win in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals — it could be Morgan Wallen, whose song “Somebody’s Problem” has become a Heat anthem.

Wallen’s song is not about basketball, though that’s completely irrelevant to the Heat. These days, Butler is Somebody’s Problem.

In fact, he’s Everybody’s Problem.

Game 3 of the East finals is Sunday night, with the eighth-seeded Heat leading 2-0 after stunning almost everyone but themselves by going into Boston and winning the first two games of the series — putting themselves in position to reclaim a conference title that the Celtics defeated them for last season.

“I’ve said it all year long,” said Butler, who is averaging 31.1 points in the postseason. “We are going to ride with one another until the wheels fall off.”

The wheels are fine right now. The Heat have won 10 out of 13 games to open the playoffs, after never winning 10 out of 13 during any stretch of the regular season. They toppled top-seeded Milwaukee in Round 1, ousted fifth-seeded New York in Round 2 and now have second-seeded Boston in trouble. And they’ve successfully rallied from more 12-pointor-more deficits in these playoffs than the rest of the NBA has combined (five) entering Saturday.

NUGGETS

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2023-05-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://daily.gazette.com/article/282089166133078

The Gazette, Colorado Springs