In his first game back from a sprained ankle injury that sidelined him for straight games, Jimmy Butler had one of his best games of the season Monday.
Butler posted his first double-double of the season, finishing with 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, shooting 8-of-12 from the floor and 13-of-13 from the free-throw line. Butler looked engaged on both ends, helping the Miami Heat to a 16-point win over the struggling Philadelphia 76ers, his former team.
Joel Embiid had high praise for Butler, relative to the rest of his peers, after the game:
“I mean, Jimmy is Jimmy. He does everything,” Embiid told reporters Monday. “Scoring, passing the ball. Commanding while being on the floor. Both sides of the floor. One of the best players in the league. Probably top five. Probably the best, actually. Best player in the league. He’s hard. He’s hard to guard. You know, it takes the whole team.”
Embiid and Butler are friends, so this isn’t surprising. But let’s make one thing clear: Butler’s not currently in the same stratosphere as Nikola Jokic. One could argue he’s closer to being outside the top-20 than the best, even though that’s neither here nor there.
For the season, Butler’s averaging 17.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.4 steals on 50.0 percent shooting. The Heat are at their best when Butler’s engaged on both sides of the floor, but that has been far from consistent since the start of last season, his worst year with the Heat.
We are only 13 games into a long, grueling 82-game season. But there’s been a steady drop-off in Butler’s game over the last calendar year. And it doesn’t help matters that he’s not gotten much help outside of Tyler Herro to begin the new season. Terry Rozier has been flat-out bad, while Bam Adebayo’s struggled to find his groove offensively through 13 games.
The 35-year-old looked excellent against Philadelphia, who’s barely struggled to get off the ground in part due to multiple injuries to their three-best players in Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and Paul George. The Heat also have a five-day break before their next game against the Dallas Mavericks without Luka Doncic–a favorable opportunity to secure their second-straight home win for the first time this season.
Miami goes at Butler goes–but will his body allow him to consistently play at a high level? That remains to be seen, but let’s hope this extended break is exactly what Butler and the Heat need to re-fuel heading into another pivotal stretch.
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He’s kissing up to Butler hoping he pulls some strings to convince Riley to trade for him like he did Lowry. We all know how that turned out. Embiid is damaged goods that will never attain his full potential. He will also never stack up to Jokic. “The Process” will never be realized and Daryl Morey is a total loser everywhere he goes!
When a guy that plays 60 games per season and has never made it past the second round of the playoffs tells you something, take it with a grain of salt
Whatever Embiid is smoking, please pass some over here. Or maybe it’s the pain medication he’s taking for his ongoing injury situation. Oh, and that injury prone career is exactly why I would not consider giving up our best (younger) players for him in any trade. When he’s healthy, he is a force to be reckoned with, but his injury history speaks for itself.