The Heat failed to sweep the Celtics at home Tuesday night but Jimmy Butler doesn’t believe Boston has the edge heading into Game 5 — Miami does.
“If anything, it will build momentum for us knowing that we have to play with a lot more energy,” Butler told reporters, as seen on NBA.com’s postgame coverage. “And you know, we got to play like our backs are against the wall. But I think all year long, we’ve been better prepared to do things our way.”
The Miami superstar said the key to the Heat carrying the momentum into Game 5 will be to not break any of their routines, including listening to music and relaxing away from the game.
“I don’t think that you could just focus on basketball all the time. You have to be able to, you know, get away from the game a little bit, think about it,” Butler said. “But at the end of the day, you fall back on your habits, how consistent you’re going to be, and myself and my teammates. We’re going to do the same thing. We’re going to smile. We’re going to be in this thing together like we always are. Gonna go get one on the road.”
Butler knows his team didn’t perform as dominantly defensively in Game 4 as it had during the first three games of the series and said his team would make the adjustment in Boston.
“I mean, yes, they are talented. And I will tell you, in every game they just missed a lot of shots,” Butler said. “Tonight, they made shots. But we didn’t do our job making them miss those shots either.
“I think we let go of the rope on the defensive side of the ball and turned the ball over but didn’t get back in transition. All the things we said we were gonna do and we did not. And that was the game, and it got out of hand pretty early. Our energy was pretty low which we cannot have and it’s on myself and definitely the starting group to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Even though Miami failed to close the series out at home, Butler doesn’t believe the Heat need a lot of pep talks heading into the next game.
“Only thing I’m gonna say is, ‘We’ll be okay. Let’s get back to doing what we’ve always done and get us to this point,'” Butler said. “Continually have belief in one another, knowing that we’re going to win and we will. … There’s not too much to say with this group because we already know. We just gotta go out there and execute.”
Tipoff for Game 5 at TD Garden is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET on Thursday night. The Heat will look to advance and the Celtics will need to win in order to stay alive and head back to Miami for Game 6.
