CLEVELAND — There’s a new and “psychotic” villain coming to Madison Square Garden.
Jimmy Butler, among the league’s most fierce competitors, strapped the Miami Heat on his back and completed a stunning upset over the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks late Wednesday, setting up a second-round series against the Knicks that will be chock full of nostalgia and intensity.
Butler, it’s safe to assume, won’t be overwhelmed by the moment or the MSG environment like the Cavaliers, who folded like fugazis against the Knicks.
“A lot of guys play the game of basketball in this league. He competes to win. That’s a different language,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after his team polished off the Bucks with an overtime victory and gentleman’s sweep. “He’s desperate and urgent and maniacal and sometimes psychotic about the will to try to win.
“He’ll make everybody in the building feel it. And that’s why he is us and we are him. That’s the way we operate as well. The psychotic meets the psychotic. And it gets a little bit whatever.”
The “whatever” could be a reference to last season’s blowup on the bench between Butler, Spoelstra and Udonis Haslem. It was ugly and toxic but the vaunted Heat culture survived long enough to emerge from this year’s play-in tournament and crush the Bucks.
Butler, 33, hit another gear in the Milwaukee series, averaging 37.6 points over the five games while shooting 60%. In Wednesday’s closeout game — which occurred two nights after Butler scored 56 points — he buried the tying bucket in the final second of regulation while falling backwards.
Although most players pay perfunctory homage to MSG, Butler already dismissed the storylines of the historical rivalry and arena.
Game 1 is Sunday afternoon at the Garden.
“Honestly you’re asking the wrong person. I don’t care who we play,” Butler said. “We’ve just got to beat them four times. I understand you’re trying to hype it up. But we’re going to go out there and compete. We’re going to be the better group. And we’re going to be together through good and through bad, just like we were in this series. So whether we play in Miami, whether we play in the Garden or we play in Rucker Park, we need to win four games.”
Butler also wasn’t concerned about a reunion with Tom Thibodeau, who represented his first coach in Chicago. Thibodeau, who supplied Cleveland’s J.B. Bickerstaff a free coaching clinic in Round 1, brought Butler to his second stop in Minnesota, but that partnership dissolved after the player stormed out of a practice and demanded a trade.
Thibodeau wasn’t Butler’s issue with the Timberwolves — that was more about Karl-Anthony Towns exhibiting the fortitude of a pancake — but don’t count on a warm greeting.
“I’m not worried about Thibs,” Butler said Wednesday night.
Despite Butler’s intimidating presence, the Heat was clearly the preferred matchup for the Knicks. Thibodeau’s squad was swept in the regular season by the Bucks, who owned the league’s best record (58-24) and player (Giannis Antetokounmpo).
Conversely, the Knicks won their season series against the Heat, 3-1, including two victories in March.
A big part of that success was Julius Randle, who averaged 21 points against the Heat and hit a buzzer-beating game-winner in Miami.
But Randle’s status is up in the air after reaggravating his sprained ankle Wednesday night in Cleveland. He was struggling even before the injury, shooting just 34% in the Cavs series.
It leaves the responsibility on Jalen Brunson to carry the Knicks against their old rivals, and the point guard has made a career out of rising to the occasion.
“He’s a star player. He showed that last year in the playoffs,” Josh Hart said “He showed that this whole season. He’s continuing to show it. He’s continuing to prove people wrong. None of us in that locker room o that front office, the coaching staff, is surprised with how he’s playing.”
Of course this time, there’s a firebrand on the other side.
“We don’t listen to the outside noise,” Butler said after ripping the hearts out of the Bucks. “And we will not listen to any outside noise. We’re going to do what we do. We’re going to learn from our mistakes and get better, and take the next series like we took this one.”
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