Though he may claim “Playoff Jimmy” isn’t a thing, there is plenty of evidence that a different side of Jimmy Butler comes out during the #NBAPlayoffs, especially in last night’s dominant performance in a win over the Bucks. Eight stats that prove Playoff Jimmy is real, a 🧵:
1. Butler has scored 40+ points in 7 of his 101 playoff games, which trails only Michael Jordan, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Wilt Chamberlain, and Hakeem Olajuwon for the highest percentage (6.9%) of playoff games scoring 40+, min. 100 games played.
2. Seven of Butler's 15 career 40+ point games occurred in the playoffs. The only player with 5 or more 40+ point games (reg. and postseason combined) to have a higher percentage of them occur in the playoffs is Jamal Murray, another player famed for his postseason heroics.
3. The Heat are 6-1 when Jimmy drops 40+, a better win % than both Jordan (26-12) and LeBron (18-10) when they’ve done the same. Dwyane Wade (7-0) and Larry Bird (5-0) are the only players to go undefeated when scoring 40+ in the playoffs (min. 5 40+ point games).
4. All seven of Butler’s 40+ point playoff games occurred as a member of the Heat. Incredibly, he has NEVER posted a 40+ point regular season game for Miami. “Playoff Jimmy” indeed, at least with Miami. All eight of his regular season 40+ point games came with the Bulls.
5. Let’s talk about last night. In the first quarter, Jimmy scored 20 consecutive Heat points, making him the 5th player to score 20+ consecutive team points in the playoffs since 2000, joining Tracy McGrady, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Ja Morant, who did it on Saturday.
6. Butler became only the second player in NBA history to drop 56+ points on the Milwaukee Bucks, playoffs or otherwise. The first? “The Mailman” Karl Malone, in a 144-96 regular season Jazz win on January 27, 1990.
7. Unlike Malone’s Jazz back then, Butler's Heat faced the 1-seeded Bucks as an underdog #8 seed in the playoffs. In NBA history, the only other player to drop 56+ as an 8-seed vs. a 1-seed was Michael Jordan vs. the Celtics in Game 2 of the first round of the 1986 playoffs.
8. Jordan scored 63 points that day, still the most any player has ever scored in any NBA playoff game. But the Bulls ultimately lost to the Celtics in 2OT, making Butler’s 56 points the most points scored by a player on an 8-seeded team in a victory over a 1-seeded opponent.
Playoff Jimmy isn’t done making history. He has his Heat on the brink of being the first team to ever go from the Play-In Tournament to the second round of the playoffs, though LeBron James and the Lakers are fighting hard to do the same this season.
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