Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler Speaks on Loss to the Boston Celtics: “We Gotta Play Like Our Backs Are Against the Wall”

The Miami Heat’s crushing Game 3 victory against the Boston Celtics led to optimistic feelings of closing out the series Tuesday night. The Heat were instead handed a blowout loss in Game 4, keeping Boston’s season alive for at least two more days.

When asked if this game builds momentum for the Celtics, Jimmy Butler disagreed, saying the Heat are actually the beneficiaries of the loss.

“If anything, it’ll build momentum for us knowing that we have to play with a lot more energy,” Butler said. “We gotta play like our backs are against the wall. I think all year long we've been better whenever we had to do things the hard way.”

The Heat are still up 3-1 in the series, but a loss like this may light a fuse. Miami was outplayed in the 3-point game, shooting 25 percent from that range compared to Boston’s 40 percent.

Celtics star Jayson Tatum finally had a fourth quarter to live up to his superstar expectations. He finished the game with 33 points, with 11 in the fourth alone. The Celtics had six players in double figures, including forwards Grant Williams and Al Horford. In comparison, the Heat only had four, with Bam Adebayo only logging 10.

It is nearly statistically impossible for Boston to comeback in this series, but anything can happen. It was also deemed impossible for Miami to make it past the first round against the Milwaukee Bucks, yet here we are with them one game away from the Finals. The Heat play Boston Thursday night for Game 5.

Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.