Although playing on an injured ankle, the veteran finishes with 25 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds, but the Heat can’t overcome the absence of Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo.
Not much more you can ask from the man. With starting point guard Goran Dragic and starting center Bam Adebayo forced to sit with injuries, Miami’s Jimmy Butler dazzled Friday, dishing, driving, drawing contact, dishing, driving, drawing more contact. For a gutsy 44 minutes and 44 seconds of action, the 31-year-old small forward (who sprained his left ankle in Game 1) tried to will the outmanned Heat to a win in Game 2 of the NBA Finals in the bubble at Lake Buena Vista, Florida. But even dropping 25 points (including 11 on free throws), notching a career playoff-high 13 assists and grabbing eight rebounds was far too few drops in the bucket against a Lakers squad whose own stars are plenty willful, too. Anthony Davis and LeBron James accounted for a combined 65 points on 29-for-45 shooting in Friday’s 124-114 victory that gave the Lakers a 2-0 series lead. “Like I said at the beginning of this thing, we gotta play damn near perfect in order to beat those guys,” Butler said Friday night via Zoom.
