Jimmy Butler Overcomes Injuries and Elimination to Save the Heat's Season

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were on their way to their first Finals

Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler were on their way home, and Draymond Green was ready for his trip to Boston

The NBA was as well. Almost 19,000 fans entered TD Garden for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Friday night, expecting a coronation

They departed with their squad, who was one loss away from being eliminated

LeBron James took the same floor, faced the same audience, and fended off conference finals elimination with a 45-point effort that would (briefly) define him ten years ago

Butler, his knee injury and his team pummelling stepped up and delivered 47 of his own on Saturday

He connected on 55% of his shots. He hit 50% of his three-point attempts

Who could have predicted this? Butler scored eight points in Game 3 before departing at halftime with a knee ailment

He had six points in Game 4. In Game 5, he scored 13 points while playing so quietly that Celtics coach Ime Udoka stated that Butler wasn't aiming to achieve

His lousy knee had cost him his lift because of his ferocity. He appears to be confident