Jimmy Butler was good enough in Game 2

There was a little too much fouling of 3-point shooters for my taste on Sunday night, but other than that, the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets played quite the thrilling Game 2. The Nuggets threw run after run at the Heat, who ate every blow and kept countering. Eventually the Heat put the Nuggets on the ropes in the fourth quarter, and it was Jimmy Butler who kept them there long enough for him to deliver the knockout blow.

On Wednesday Jim Brockmire (Hank Azaria) made an appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. While he didn’t say directly, the main character of one of the greatest comedies of the previous decade strongly implied that “Heat Culture” is actually a cult. If the Heat are actually a real-life N, then Game 2 was a more persuasive invitation to join than “nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah leader” ever was.

Kevin Love was inserted into the starting lineup — because Erik Spoelstra is not a rookie coach who waits two games too late to make a change — and made the Heat much more formidable inside. Gabe Vincent was magnificent in pick-and-roll offense, while Bam Adebayo constantly attacked on both sides of the floor. Also, Max Struss saw to it that there would not be anything close to a repeat of his Game 1 0-10 performance from the field, and Duncan Robinson was breathing fire as he scored the Heat’s first eight points of the fourth quarter and on his way to going 4-5 from the field during the game’s final 12 minutes

The Heat’s performance in Game 2 was a masterclass from a 1-10 rotation in a must-win postseason game. However, it was Butler’s work in the fourth quarter that kept the Heat steady while the Nuggets were burying crucial shots to climb their way back into the game.

Before Butler entered the game in the fourth quarter the Nuggets went from up seven points to down five. An offense that powerful can only be held down for so long. Once Butler touched the court the Nuggets scored on three consecutive possessions. He countered with three points on a long-range shot and three points on an and-1 to keep the Heat at an eight-point advantage.

Butler made the pass to Caleb Martin to give the Heat an eight-point lead with just over three and a half minutes remaining in the game, and also hit a jumper to bring the Heat’s lead back up to eight with 2:12 to go. Then on the final possession of the game — after missing a potential dagger jumper — Butler swarmed the demoralizing force from the perimeter known as Jamal Murray, preventing him from sending the game into overtime with a 3-pointer.

He hasn’t had a true “Himmy” game since the first round. Butler turned his ankle in the first game of the second round against the New York Knicks — a second injury issue that he now has to manage alongside his perpetual knee issues.

During the Heat’s seven-game Eastern Conference Finals win against the Boston Celtics, his Game 1 35 points on 48/50/90 shooting splits with six steals and seven assists was his only truly dominant performance in that series. A player who usually lives at the free-throw line has only seven attempts in The Finals.

In Game 2 he scored 21 points while shooting 36.8 percent from the field, and tallied nine assists along with five free-throw attempts. Four of those assists came in the third quarter, helping the Heat keep pace while Nikola Jokić scored 18 of his 41 points while shooting 60 percent from the field.

At some point in this series — probably twice — Butler is going to have to be arguably the best player on the floor to win his first NBA Championship. Being the utility man works until the pipes are leaking, mold is spreading, and the toilet stops flushing all at the same time. No utility man can fix all of that at once. At that point, a star has to save the day.

In that situation, it’s a breadwinner who can afford to pay several specialists to work at the same time. Or better yet, move into a sturdier home. Or even better yet, buy a better home as well as fix the old one so it can be sold for a profit.

Butler wasn’t that on Sunday, but he certainly, although temporarily, stopped the rumbling and the dripping in the home. He got it through the night, so it can be ready again for the force of nature that is the Denver Nuggets.

His Game 2 performance won’t be held in NBA lore, but every single play that he made was essential to the Heat handing the Nuggets their first home loss of the 2023 postseason.