Jimmy Butler sees better Heat days ahead, details COVID-19 experience

Jimmy Butler offered his perspective on the state of the Miami Heat and his battle with COVID-19 in an interview for ESPN’s The Jump, taped earlier this week ahead of Saturday’s nationally televised game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center.

Of how the Heat, who stand 12-17, are playing, Butler said, “Terrible. Terrible. Just terrible. Not the way we say we want to play. Not the way we’re supposed to be playing. But it’s OK, because we will turn it around. And like the saying says, better late than never.”

While the Lakers remain at the top of the Western Conference, the Heat have struggled since the teams met in October in the NBA Finals.

From such struggles, Butler said he expects growth.

“We know what adversity is,” he said. “We’re supposed to be better. We’re supposed to get better and bring everybody up with us. Maybe here and there we’ve forgotten that. We will get back to it, though. I promise you that. We will.”

Among the setbacks for the Heat was the 10-game stretch Butler missed last month in NBA health and safety protocols.

“Yeah, it’s scary,” Butler said of his experience with the coronavirus pandemic. “Don’t believe reports of me losing 12 pounds, either, ‘cause that’s not the case. I had a light headache, and I felt like I was ready to go. I wanted to compete. Obviously, you cannot do that. But it didn’t hit me that hard.”

What also appeared to hit Butler hard was failing to be recognized as a clue on an episode of “Jeopardy” that aired this week.

Butler was the $1,000 clue in the category of “Hoops.”

“Recently,” guest host Ken Jennings asked as a photo of Butler was displayed, “this baller-barista launched Big Face Coffee and turned his new team, the Miami Heat, into a title contender.”

There were no responses before the timing buzzer sounded.

“I think he should have done a better job of describing me,” Butler said in his sit-down with Rachel Nichols. “And $1,000 is not enough. They were probably like, ‘Need like $2,000.’ That’d be well worth knowing who that individual is. I wouldn’t answer who I was for $1,000, just to let you know.”

Tripling up

The Heat are coming off Thursday’s 118-110 victory over the Sacramento Kings, a game Butler and teammate Bam Adebayo both closed with triple-doubles.

Butler finished that game with 13 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, his third consecutive triple-double. Adebayo finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

Among noteworthy elements of those performances:

— Butler, who already had become the first Heat player with triple-doubles in consecutive games, became the second Heat player with as many as four in a season, joining LeBron James.

— Over the past five games, which included four triple-doubles, Butler is averaging 19.6 pints, 10 rebounds and 9.8 assists, as well as 1.8 steals.

— Butler and Adebayo became the first teammates in NBA history to have triple-doubles in the same game more than once, having also done it in a Dec. 10, 2019 game against the Atlanta Hawks.

— Butler and Adebayo became the first teammates to record a triple-double in the same game since Ja Morant and Jonas Valanciunas did it for the Memphis Grizzlies last season.

— The longest streak of triple-doubles over the past 35 seasons is 11 by Russell Westbrook in 2019. The only players to have at least three in a row over that span are Westbrook, Butler, James and Jason Kidd.