SOUR HOMECOMING: Heat torch Warriors in Butler’s Miami return
‘This was a huge part of my career so I continue to say that I’m very grateful,’ Butler said. ‘I ain’t spiteful towards nobody’
Daily Tribune‘This was a huge part of my career so I continue to say that I’m very grateful,’ Butler said. ‘I ain’t spiteful towards nobody’
JIMMY Butler struggles in his return to Miami as the Golden State Warriors suffered an 86-112 setback to the Heat in the NBA regular season.
RICH STORRY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
MIAMI (AFP) — The Miami Heat thrashed the Golden State Warriors, 112-86, on Tuesday, handing Jimmy Butler a stinging loss in his first game against his old club since his acrimonious exit.
Butler, who was traded away to Golden State in February after a series of bust-ups with the Heat management, finished with just 11 points as the Warriors offense struggled to click.
Instead, it was Miami which dominated from the outset, grabbing the lead early on before coasting to a wire-to-wire victory.
Butler, who played six seasons in Miami and was a talismanic figure in the team’s run to the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals in 2020, was given a video tribute before the game started.
Although there were scattered boos in the Kaseya Center crowd, Butler was greeted largely positively on his return.
“This was a huge part of my career so I continue to say that I’m very grateful,” Butler said. “I ain’t spiteful towards nobody.”
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said his team had not used Butler’s presence in the opposition line-up as a motivating factor.
“The energy in the building was great,” Spoelstra said.
“We didn’t do any extra motivational speech leading up into this — it was more about us staying the course with our process.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Miami had been ready for his team.
“People don’t ever seem too amped up around here,” Kerr said of the atmosphere.
“It really wasn’t that rabid an environment. It was typical Miami. The main part of Jimmy’s return is that the Heat were ready.”
“And Spo (Spoelstra) had them ready. It was about how hard they played and how well they competed. They took it to us.”
Miami improved to 31-41 with the victory to remain in 10th place in the Eastern Conference and on course for the play-in tournament.
The Warriors fell to 41-31 and are in sixth place in the West, just ahead of the seventh-placed Los Angeles Clippers (40-31).
In other games, the Oklahoma City Thunder extended their unbeaten streak to seven games with a 121-105 road win over the Sacramento Kings in northern California.
