Jimmy Butler has been fantastic this season—clearly the best wing in the Eastern Conference, so long as you don’t count Giannis Antetokounmpo or LeBron James as wings.
On Wednesday night, he was fantastic again, scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter to secure the Chicago Bulls’ victory over the injury-infested Cleveland Cavaliers.
His motivation for playing the way he did?
Dwyane Wade.
Per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:
Butler on his 4th: "A guy that wears No. 3 on this team came to me and was like, ‘Win the game.' So I guess a switch cut on."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 5, 2017
Butler: "I can’t let DWade down. DWade has been doing that for years. The fourth quarter is always go time. I want to show I belong here."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 5, 2017
Well, hey, if Butler is going to play like he did against Cleveland every time the game is on the line, Wade’s two-year, $47 million will all be worth it.
The Bulls, for the record, haven’t been especially good in the clutch. This doesn’t apply to their win in Cleveland, which didn’t qualify for the data, but they’re 10-9 during the final five minutes of games in which no team is ahead or behind by more than five points. That said, Butler is posting a true shooting percentage of 59.9 in those situations, which is better than the efficiency from Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Klay Thompson, James Harden, Chris Paul and so many other big names.
So while having Wade in Chicago hasn’t looked fantastic on the Bulls all the time, the team will certain take, and keep, this version of Butler.
