Windhorst: Heat's Jimmy Butler 'Didn't Want Any Business' with Nuggets' 'Big Boys'

For the first time in the 2023 playoffs, Jimmy Butler shrunk in the moment and the Miami Heat suffered for it.

Butler had a quiet 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting while failing to get to the line for the first time in this postseason, leading to ESPN's Brian Windhorst to call him out for avoiding the paint.

"I think they should probably show Jimmy Butler in the film room today the film of him jawing at Jrue Holiday because Jimmy was... I'm very cautious to say the word intimidated because Jimmy isn't intimidated by anything, but Jimmy didn't want any business with those big boys. He did not drive," Windhorst said on the Hoop Collective (51:50 mark).

Butler has been held to just two free throws over his last two games after living at the line for much of the playoffs. It's fair to wonder how much Butler's lingering ankle injury may be impacting his desire to get to the rim. He first suffered the injury during Miami's second-round series against the New York Knicks and then appeared to tweak the ankle in Game 7 against Boston.

The Nuggets aren't a particularly big-bodied team—at least in comparison to the teams Miami has already played this season. It seems more likely that Butler's lack of drives to the cup are a product of injury and game planning by the Nuggets, rather than hesitation to challenge Nikola Jokić at the rim.