
Butler shrugs off Miami return: Just another game
ATLANTA — Jimmy Butler said his highly-anticipated return to Miami to face his former Heat team will be just “another game” to him on Tuesday.
After the Golden State Warriors dropped a disappointing 124-115 loss to the Atlanta Hawks without an injured Stephen Curry (pelvic contusion), Butler said his return to Miami will be no different than his first game against former teams like Chicago, Philadelphia and Minnesota.
Butler was traded from Miami to Golden State before the trade deadline after a tumultuous breakup with the Heat.
“Yeah, I was traded from there, yada, yada, yada,” Butler said after finishing with 25 points, eight assists and four rebounds in the loss in Atlanta on Friday night. “Yeah, it didn’t end the way that people wanted to, yada yada yada.
“But that’s so far behind me now. I don’t even think about it. I don’t pay attention to nothing except for the trajectory of this squad.”
Despite the setback in Atlanta, the Warriors (41-30) have been on the rise since Butler played in his first game with his new team on Feb. 8. They are 16-4 since Butler’s debut.
The Heat, however, are on a 10-game slide for the first time since 2008. Miami is just 4-17 since the Butler trade became official on Feb. 7. During that span, Miami has been outscored by 125 points in the fourth quarter, the worst in the NBA since Feb. 6 according to research by ESPN Research.
This will also be the first time Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Anderson, two Warriors that were sent to Miami in the five-team trade involving Butler, will face their former team.
“We got Jimmy over here, I know this is a big game for him,” Warriors power forward Draymond Green said. “They got Wiggs over there. I know it’s a huge game for him. We want to win for Jimmy, they’re going to want to win for Wiggs. We got to come out ready to play.”
Butler, who helped the Heat reach two NBA Finals during his five and a half seasons there, praised the Miami fans for their support but said he is not curious about the reaction he will receive.
“Not really, don’t make no difference,” Butler said. “I’m a member of the Golden State Warriors. I love that fan base. They showed me a lot of love while I was there. But I’m there to win now. I’m on the opposing team.”
Asked how he would characterize his time in Miami, Butler said it fell short of the ultimate goal of winning a title.
“We were alright,” Butler said. “We didn’t win nothing like we were supposed to. So I dunno. We made some cool runs. We had some fun. I think that’s all we did.”
Curry is expected to be reevaluated on Monday. And while head coach Steve Kerr said he expects Curry to rejoin the team at some point on this six-game road swing, Butler is more focused on likely having to find a way to win in Miami without Curry.
“Another game for me, another game that we’re expected to win for sure,” Butler said after expressing disappointment of losing to the Hawks. “So we got to figure it out very quickly [without Curry].”