Why Jimmy Butler Is ‘Glad’ to Be Facing Philly on Their Home Court for Play-In
The Heat and the 76ers will battle it out for a spot in the Playoffs on Wednesday and Jimmy Butler has spoken about the challenge of facing Philly on their home court.
Miami ended their regular season with a 118-103 win over Toronto at Kaseya Center, but Jimmy knows the Play-In against Philadelphia will be a totally different playing environment.
“Just gotta go out there and compete, play basketball the right way and do something very difficult and it’s to win on Philly’s floor,” Butler said. “This is the time of the year where you’re going to have to do that anyways if you want to win a championship. Obviously we have to do it if we want to get to seven [seventh seed].”
The Heat have a 22-19 record at home, compared to a 24-17 record on the road over the regular season, so Butler will take his chances on the road.
“… I wish we played better at home. I don’t know. Whenever we get on the road, our back against the wall a little bit,” Butler said. “I guess we get out of our comfort zone, and then we really start making things happen, so I’m actually kind of glad we’re on the road.”
Despite being heavy underdogs last season, Playoff Jimmy and the Heat made it to the NBA Finals, but were defeated in five games at the hands of the Nuggets.
Since then, the team have added Terry Rozier, Delon Wright and Patty Mills to the mix and Butler is confident about the players around him.
“I feel good about the group, Butler said. “And that’s all I wanted to see these last couple of games. I just wanted to feel it. I know my team. I know the locker room. I can sense this group is ready. That’s all you can ask for. We not the same group as last year, so we leave that where it’s at and we’re moving forward with the group that we do have. But we, I are very confident in the guys we do have and we know what we’re capable of so we’ll see what we got.”
As for the 76ers, the franchise would have likely automatically qualified for the Playoffs if big man Joel Embiid hadn’t gone down with injury in January.
But forward Tobias Harris says the team isn’t focussing on what could have been and are only fixed on the task at hand.
“This is where we’re at as a team,” Harris said. “We’re confident. We know what’s at stake here and we’re not looking for any sympathy on how our season has gone. We obviously understand where we’re at right now, and all we’re looking forward to is our next opponent and being ready to win and go forward into the playoffs.”
READ MORE: LeBron Reacts to His Monster Triple Double
Draymond Green Addresses Epic Play-In Matchup Against Kings
The NBA script played out perfectly during the last remaining games of the regular season, since recent rivals the Warriors and Kings will now face off in the Play-In Tournament.
NBA fans will remember Golden State and Sacramento’s wild first-round series from last season.
The battle stretched to seven games, with the Warriors emerging as victors in a series full of drama.
Warriors forward Draymond Green expects this clash to be no different.
“It’s always a playoff-type game,” Green said after the Warriors 123-116 win over the Jazz on Sunday. “You feel that. You go into their arena, their fans want to light the beam and see us lose and beat the crap out of us. And when they come here, we want to beat the crap out of them. A lot of familiarity amongst the two organizations. It kind of has brewed into that.
“For us, it’s another game that we have to go win. We got to get it done.”
For the Kings, last season’s early exit is going to be a huge motivating factor, Kings guard Davion Mitchell says.
“I mean, it’s exciting – we get to get a little payback from last year,” Mitchell said. “We know they’re going to come in here with energy because we’re playing a home game. It’s going to be loud, it’s going to be physical, but I think we’re ready for it.
“The whole year I think we prepared ourselves for it, playing physical on both ends of the floor and I think we’ll be ready.”
Despite the win-or-go-home matchup being held at Golden 1 Center, Green thinks his away side will have the upper hand as the Kings are familiar rivals.
“They’ve definitely changed a little bit. We know this team pretty well, though, for the most part,” Green said. …”They’re very much so a pattern team. They got their things that they want to get to. Going into the game, understanding that [and] the things that we’ll be trying to take away and not let them get to those patterns. But we know them well. They know us well. So it won’t be a surprise.”
Though, Mitchell thinks Green and the Warriors might be in for a more of a surprise than they think due to the Kings’ improvement on D.
“I think covering for one another. We’re kind of on a streak defensively,” Mitchell said. “Helping each other out. If I get a backdoor cut and somebody beats me, you have my teammate helping. At the beginning of the year, that would be a layup or something easy like that.
“…We haven’t played them since the beginning of the season so it’s going to be a lot different than what they’ve seen.”
Anthony Davis Calls Out Former Laker For Dangerous Play After Back Spasms
Anthony Davis has called out former Laker Larry Nance Jr. for dangerous play, which resulted in the big man exiting the game early from back spasms.
In the fourth quarter against the Pelicans on Sunday night, Nance made contact with Davis while he was attempting a putback layup.
AD remained on the court after the play, but was clutching at his lower back.
He then walked to the sideline and lied on the floor to try and stretch it out.
Anthony Davis went back to the locker room after an apparent injury. pic.twitter.com/qKT6K4wl1Y
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 14, 2024
After the game, Lakers coach Darvin Ham told reporters that Davis suffered a “spasm”, though described it as “nothing major.
Davis shared similar thoughts to his coach, while accusing Nance of dangerous play.
“He gave me a little shove in the back,” Davis told reporters. “My back just locked up on me. Nothing concerning.
“I was in the air. So, obviously it’s a dangerous play. I know he’s not a dirty player. But I’m in the air and then get shoved in the back. Hyperextension. It just locks up. Nothing that concerns me, though. …
“No doubt that I’m gonna play. Just see how it feels the rest of the day; I’ll have to get massages, get some treatment … keep loose. See how I feel over the next 24, 36 hours and get ready for Tuesday.”
The Lakers will remain in New Orleans in preparation for their Play-In matchup on Tuesday.
Although the franchise enjoyed a 124-108 victory on Sunday, Anthony Davis and LeBron James know that the postseason is a whole different kettle of fish.
Despite the injury, Davis finished the night with 30 points, 11 rebounds and three assists on 76.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
LeBron Reacts to His Monster Triple Double & Play-In Matchup
LeBron James has spoken about LA’s victory over the Pelicans and his monster 17 assists to end the regular season.
In a fairly unique situation, the Lakers will face the Pelicans again in the Play-In Tournament, after beating them 124-108 on NOLA’s home court on Sunday.
“You don’t get too high on one win because you got to come back and play again,” James told reporters. “So, we played good ball tonight but some things we can be better at, some things we can take from tonight. But at the end of the day, the game on Tuesday is a new game and it’s a good opportunity for us.”
James says playing twice in New Orleans in a matter of days feels like a Game 1 and Game 2 situation in the playoffs.
“If you win that first game the other team has multiple days to sit on that feeling, still got that taste in your mouth of defeat, so they’re gonna be extremely ready for us and we have to come in with the same sense or urgency we had in the previous game,” he said.
LeBron finished his 21st regular season on a high by totalling 28 points, 11 rebounds and 17 assists and explained how he has to be ready to take on whatever role presents itself on the floor on any given night.
“I just want to win, so whatever the game presents itself for me to be, for me to be ore attacking, long range or for me to be more set up guy, be more of a defender – gotta do it all. I am swiss army knife, so I gotta do it all the floor, but none of it is pre-determined,” LeBron explained.
At almost 40 years of age, LeBron admitted that he’s feeling “better than he did at the end of the season last season” injury-wise.
“At this point in my career to be able to play 70-plus games and to be available for my guys. I think only a couple of them..a few of them was because of injury or illness, being sick, so that’s pretty cool.”
LeBron and the Lakers managed to limit Pels forward Zion Williamson to 12 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
“I mean, he’s a beast, its almost impossible to stop him. So, just try to keep a body on him, just try to make it tough on him. But he’s a great player man, so the best thing is that I have help behind me and always communicating throughout that matchup.”
The Lakers will face the Pelicans at 7:30PM ET on TNT on Tuesday, April 16.
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