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Jimmy Butler did not attempt a 3-pointer in Game 3 of the Finals on Sunday, becoming the first player in 18 years to score 40 points in a Finals game without a long-range shot. But Butler was surrounded by shooters in the Miami Heat’s 115-104 victory, in which his team scored 87 points on 67 possessions (1.3 per each) in the final 33 minutes.
With two Miami starters out of the last two games, Butler has had additional pick-and-roll duties, while also taking on the role of offensive center at the high post from Bam Adebayo. On Sunday, he had the ball in his hands for more than half of the 22.3 minutes the Heat had the ball, and he accounted for 73 of the Heat’s 115 points through his own touchdown and 13 assists.
Butler assisted on seven of the Heat’s 12 3-pointers, and his passes carried three of the other five. There were the standard, Adebayo-style, dribble and transfer assists (here’s one), and the relationship worked both ways, as the attention paid to the Heat’s shooters allowed Butler to get into the paint and onto the line of goal. free shots.
Here are some examples of how Butler and his shooter got good shots in Game 3:
1. Shooters are the best filters
Butler’s first two points arose from a simple “pistol” action in which Tyler Herro placed a screen along the right sideline. Danny Green and LeBron James weren’t on the same page and Butler got to the basket before Anthony Davis could help from the weak side.
Midway through the second quarter, the Lakers (Green and Alex Caruso) flopped on another trade when Butler faked a trade to Kendrick Nunn, allowing Butler to get into the paint and tie a recovering Green foul.
2. Gravity roll
Early in the second quarter, the Heat played their standard game out of bounds on the sideline, with Robinson getting the ball into Butler and receiving a back screen from Nunn. The Lakers defended him well until Robinson came out of the corner to take a pass from Butler. Rajon Rondo got caught behind the play, Green reached over to stop Robinson and Kyle Kuzma left Jae Crowder in the corner on the weak side to help Butler roll to the rim. Robinson kicked Crowder for a 3 wide.
3. Taking advantage of the change
With just under four minutes to go in the second quarter, Duncan Robinson hit the first of his three 3s when James hesitated to step on a pass from Butler. Five possessions later, Butler handed them over to Herro and Caruso stayed with him on the streak to the brim. James again gave the shooter some room, but Herro saw the mismatch inside and Butler got one of his easiest cubes of the night.
4. Pick-and-pop
The Lakers erased a 14-point deficit and took a two-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Butler then faced James in a tough one-on-one showdown. In two of Miami’s next four possessions, the Lakers had trouble defending the same action (running in opposite directions) where Robinson and Kelly Olynyk set up sequential screens for Butler. In the first, both James and Morris followed Butler into the paint, leaving Olynyk alone on the perimeter for a 3 pick-and-pop.
5. Slide to the edge
When the Heat took the same action in the opposite direction, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope changed the first screen and Davis was ready to change the second. But Olynyk slipped to the basket, Butler threw a deft rebound pass, and Davis didn’t react quickly enough.
Choose your poison
It seems unlikely Dragic will return for Game 4 on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, ABC). Adebayo has been updated to questionable, but there are still two steps to make it available. Butler, meanwhile, will have a hard time replicating the individual scoring success he had in Game 3 as the Heat try to even the series.
That doesn’t mean the Heat are easier to defend. With Butler’s ability to get into the paint and the line, along with the shots around him, the Lakers defense will continue to be tested. The 120.5 points per 100 possessions the Heat has scored in the last two games is the most the Lakers have allowed in two games in these playoffs and the most the Heat has scored in two games since late February.
If they can get close to that mark on Tuesday, this series could get really interesting.
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John Schuhmann is a Senior Statistics Analyst at NBA.com. You can email him here, find his file here and follow him on twitter.
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