Where Is ‘Playoff Jimmy’ Butler When Miami Heat Need Him Most?

With three seconds left in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Game 6 between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat, Al Horford fouled Jimmy Butler on a stepback three-point attempt.

Butler stepped to the line, with this team down two and facing the prospect of a Game 7 in Boston, where Miami could be the first team in NBA history to lose a series after going up 3-0.

Playoff Jimmy Butler drilled all three free throws.

With Miami up 103-102, Marcus Smart heaved a contested three that went in and out. Derrick White, with a free path to the rim after inbounding the ball, tipped it in for the victory. The ball last touched his fingerprints with one-tenth of a second left.

In one of the cruelest twists ever authored by the basketball gods, Butler’s three clutch free throws were rendered meaningless.

As was the final four minutes of the game, in which Butler scored 13 of his 24 points. For one-twelfth of their third closeout opportunity in a row, Butler was Playoff Jimmy.

If he’d been able to activate that version of himself earlier, Miami likely wouldn’t be on the wrong end of one of the most excruciating losses in NBA history.

Over the first 44 minutes of Saturday’s game, Butler was 3-of-19 from the field for 11 points.

He was making his impact felt in other ways. Over the same stretch, he had 10 boards and eight assists, but he wasn’t Playoff Jimmy.

The jumper was off. Boston’s ability to shut down the paint on his drives was bothering him in a way we haven’t really seen this postseason. On several attacks, the tenacity that helped Miami upset the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks fizzled out before he got to the rim.

Especially in the second half, perhaps because he realized he didn’t have it rolling, Butler seemed almost timid inside. Instead of challenging Al Horford or Robert Williams III, he was jump stopping, pivoting and eventually kicking it out to someone like Kyle Lowry or Duncan Robinson.

Again, that approach helped him tally eight assists for the game, but the Heat have been at their best this postseason when Butler is dominating as a scorer. The Celtics neutralized that for just long enough to get the win and force Game 7 (and I mean just long enough).

Of course, it’s not fair to pin this loss entirely on Butler. Basketball is a team sport. It’s typically played five-on-five, and plenty of other Heat players are likely looking back on this one with some regret.

Robinson made some massive plays, including some dribbling forays into the paint and a couple backdoor cuts. He was 3-of-6 from deep and a team-high plus-eight in just 20 minutes. But he missed two open threes down the stretch that could’ve changed the outcome.

Gabe Vincent, fresh off missing Game 5 with a sprained ankle, scored 15 points on 18 shots, committed five fouls and failed to tally a single assist.

And perhaps just as meaningful as Butler’s 44-minute struggle session, Bam Adebayo finished 4-of-16 from the field. He had 13 rebounds, five assists and a crucial late block, but that’s a level of inefficiency that’s hard to recover from. For most of the game, his post-ups felt futile from the moments they started.

Those players are all secondary (at best), though. The Heat are as far as they are because of Butler. And the series is now tied in large part because of him too.

Over the first three games of the Eastern Conference Finals, he averaged 26.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 3.7 steals, while shooting 46.0 percent from the field.

Over the last three, he’s at 22.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.3 steals, while shooting 36.5 percent from the field.

Butler has to be better. And you can bet that no one understands that as well as he does.

Of course, this wasn’t Miami’s funeral (though it may prove to have been the wake). There’s one more game in this series. And the Heat have already won two in Boston. They lost by just one point on Saturday, despite all of the issues detailed above.

But the biggest reason Miami started this series with back-to-back wins on the road was the performance of Playoff Jimmy.

If he’s not back for all 48 minutes on Monday, the Heat are likely to be the first team in NBA history to lose a playoff series that they led 3-0.