MIAMI (AP) — Some fans cheered his introduction. Many jeered him. And whenever he got the ball over the next four quarters, there was plenty of booing from all sides of the arena.
In the end, Jimmy Butler's return to Miami couldn't have gone better for the Heat.
The Heat paid tribute to Butler’s 5 1/2 seasons with the team with a pregame video on Tuesday night, shown in the arena as part of the introduction of the Golden State Warriors’ starting lineup for the game. Those were about the only highlights for the Warriors, with Butler scoring 11 points in a 112-86 loss.
“I got a lot of love for this city, for the fanbase here,” Butler said afterward. “The video was nice. I won't say there was a lot of emotions, though.”
Butler appeared to watch the roughly 40-second pregame video, as he said he would, though added that it didn’t matter to him whether the Heat did one or not. He got the full-throated introduction from Heat public-address announcer Michael Baiamonte — “Jim ... my ... Butlerrrrr” — just as he did when he played for Miami and waved to acknowledge the sounds from the stands.
It was unusual, though. And it did take Butler a couple extra seconds to figure out where to go when he arrived at the arena.
“I was confused,” Butler said. “Haven't been on this side in a minute.”
He’s insisting that there’s no hard feelings between he and the Heat now, a month and a half after he was traded to the Warriors following a contentious breakup that saw him suspended by Miami three times in his final weeks with the team.
The video included a slew of Butler's highlights from the Heat era, including the iconic image of him, exhausted, slumped over a courtside barrier during a game in the NBA bubble in 2020.
“The energy in the building was great," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “If you’re a competitor, you love this kind of environment. We didn’t do any kind of extra motivational speech.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr might not necessarily believe that.
“I think the main part of Jimmy's return was the Heat were ready, and Spo had them ready,” Kerr said.
It was an important game for the Heat, who are fighting to regain standings ground that was lost in a 10-game losing streak that ended earlier this week. And it was one of their most inspired efforts of the season, never trailing, holding the Warriors to 40% shooting and connecting on a wild 68% of their 3-point tries.
“Was this like a regular game? Yeah, I think so,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said. “The circumstances, who was coming in here, we were ready a little more. But for me, it was a regular game.”
Butler wasn’t happy with the Heat over not getting an extension and had issues with his role in the final weeks of his time there. The Heat weren’t happy with how he missed about 25% of their games during his tenure with the club and how he took his complaints public in the final months.
Butler got his extension — two years, $111 million — from the Warriors, and Golden State is now 16-4 in his first 20 appearances. In fairness, two of those four losses, including Tuesday's loss, came with Stephen Curry out of the Warriors' lineup.
“We definitely need 30 back,” Butler said, referring to Curry by his jersey number. “We want him to be right. We're still expected to put up a better effort than we put up the last two games. But if he's back, I think it's going to be different.”
Fans, as they tend to be when a top player leaves their team, have not been shy about hiding their anger with Butler on social media. Butler knows things didn’t end well in his Miami tenure, though notes that he believes there’s more than enough blame to go around for the messy breakup.
“I wonder if they look at the Heat the same way,” Butler said. “It ain’t like I was the one who was doing everything. It’s got to be 50-50, maybe 51-49 — 49 towards them, 51 towards me. But there’s no way that I was the cause of all of this.”
Butler wound up being suspended for a total of 14 Heat games before the trade. But the Heat have a tradition of welcoming back players who were All-Stars or champions with the team; Butler was an All-Star in Miami who led the team to three Eastern Conference finals berths and two trips to the NBA Finals.
He was booed when he touched the ball after the game started, though there were some cheers when he scored Golden State's first basket of the contest. Not much else went Butler's way, and when the final buzzer sounded he greeted a couple friends courtside before heading toward the Warriors' locker room.
The Warriors have an off day in Miami on Wednesday, giving Butler another day with his kids — the family is still in South Florida — before his team leaves for New Orleans on Thursday.
“This one's over with,” Butler said. “Put it behind us, go eat some food and enjoy the sunshine tomorrow.”
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
