The Miami Heat got their superstar Jimmy Butler back in the Friday night victory against the Boston Celtics. He immediately made his presence known with a 25-point performance.
Miami is 4-5 this season without Butler and 7-7 with him. Although they played solid in Butler’s absence, they didn’t have that No. 1 threat to contest against opponents. Butler brought that back against the Celtics, hitting late shots in the fourth quarterback and overtime to put Miami up. These performances show why he is so crucial to Miami’s success. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra emphasized this in the postgame interview.
“He’s such a winning player,” Spoelstra said. “Through the first three quarters, I feel like I didn’t even run one play for him. He just finds a way to compete and helps the team win. He’s around the ball all the time and constantly puts your team in position to be efficient offensively. He does whatever is called for in the game.”
Butler’s football counterpart, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, has a drastic impact on the Dolphins’ success this season. They are undefeated (8-0) in games where Tagovailoa is the primary signal caller and winless (0-3) when he is not. The Dolphins averaged 16 points in the losses and 29.3 points in the victories. The team responds to Tagovailoa’s leadership at the quarterback position. It is undeniably the most important position in the NFL, and having a good player under center can make a difference for a football team.
/cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/7L2O73BAABNAXDES4JUTNANNFU.jpg "Brewers score 12 runs in one inning, crush Marlins 16-1")