NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: HEAT VS. CELTICS

May 23, 2023

Jimmy Butler

Miami Heat

Game 4: Postgame

Boston Celtics 116, Miami Heat 99

Q. It's only one loss obviously but is there any concern on your part that this could start to build momentum on the Boston side of things?

JIMMY BUTLER: No. If anything, it will build momentum for us knowing that we have to play with a lot more energy. We've got to play like our backs are against the wall. But I think all year long, we've been better when we've had to do things the hard way.

Q. Sometimes in the playoffs, there can be these big swings in a series. There can be big emotional swings. After a game like this, how do you personally kind of avoid getting too low yourself?

JIMMY BUTLER: Stay consistent. Do the same thing that I do, that we do, after every game. We are going to listen to some music. We're going to drink some beers back there. We are going to go have some wine.

I don't think that you can just focus on basketball all the time. You have to be able to get away from the game a little bit. Think about it, but at the end of the day, you fall back on your habits, how consistent you're going to be. Myself and my teammates, we're going to do the same thing. We're going to smile. We're going to be in this thing together like we always are, and we are going to go get one on the road.

Q. Do you think Boston, this is one of those games they were due because they are so offensively talented, or was there some defensive slippage tonight?

JIMMY BUTLER: Yes, they are talented, and I would tell you in every game they missed a lot of shots and tonight they made shots. But we didn't do our job in making them miss those shots either. I think we let go of the rope on the defensive side of the ball, turned the ball over, didn't get back in transition. All of the things we said we were going to go do, we did not, and that was the game.

It got out of hand pretty early. Our energy was pretty low, which we cannot have, and it's on myself and the starting group to make sure that doesn't happen.

Q. Tatum and Brown shot much better tonight than they have in the series and had a lot more assists to turnovers. With them getting comfortable, did that kind of get in the way of your guys' defense and them getting comfortable early on, set the tone from there?

JIMMY BUTLER: Not really. I think we can still win a game. We've just got to contest shots more, get back in transition. I'm not going to say make it a half-court game, but don't give them too many easy ones.

Whenever you see the ball go through the basket, the basket tends to grow. For those guys, the elite scorers, they make layups, make some middies, get to the free-throw line, they are going to start to make everything.

Q. You guys were up nine early in the third. It looked like there was an opportunity there, and they totally flipped the game. What shifted in those minutes?

JIMMY BUTLER: Turned the ball over. Didn't get back. That was the game. 38-23, that quarter. All transition, all open shots. That was it.

Q. You and Spo praised the focus of the group throughout the playoffs. With the way things kind of broke down in the second half, do you feel the need to say anything before Game 5 just so that the human element doesn't hit, and it's not like, we had a chance to close it at home and we didn't?

JIMMY BUTLER: The only thing I'm going to say is, We'll be okay. Let's get back to doing what we've always done to get us to this point. Continually have belief in one another, knowing that we are going to win, and we will. We've just got to play harder.

There's not too much to say with this group because we already know. So we've just got to go out there and execute.