Jimmy Butler called the Miami Heat’s shot for Game 6. He’d better make it

MIAMI — There is no denying that Joe Namath guaranteed the Jets would beat the Colts in Super Bowl III, despite being an 18-point underdog.

Babe Ruth’s mystical “called shot” home run in the 1932 World Series is debatable as to whether the pointing gesture he made was him predicting he’d hit the next pitch over the fence, but regardless, that’s precisely what happened.

In Jimmy Butler, the Miami Heat have their Broadway Joe and their Babe. Now they just need that homer.

“We are always going to stay positive, knowing that we can and we will win this series,” Butler said after the Heat lost Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals to the Celtics in Boston. “We’ll just have to close it out at home.”

There is no denying that Butler, on Thursday night, after his team had just been beaten for the second consecutive game and saw its 3-0 series lead dip to 3-2, declared without a hint of doubt that Miami would win the series, and do so at its next opportunity — which is Game 6 tonight at home.

“It’s going to be all smiles, and we are going to keep it very, very, very consistent, knowing that we are going to win next game,” Butler said.

Butler is never one to consider the consequences. He does not play the “what if” game. He has predicted victory for the Heat before and has been wrong. In this postseason run alone, he said the Heat would beat the Hawks in the first Play-In round (they didn’t) and also that they would win Game 5 in Boston. You know how that went.

The Heat take their cues from Butler, who clearly wants his teammates not to wilt under the pressure of being on the wrong end of history. No team has ever coughed up a 3-0 lead to lose an NBA playoff series. Butler is trying to speak the opposite into existence, though it hasn’t worked so far.

It has come time for Butler to end this series not with words, but action.

Butler is one of the great NBA players in the history of the playoffs, with the caveat that he has never won a championship. He has proven, time and again, that he has inside of him the ability to defy all common sense and disrupt a series that seemed so clearly to be headed toward one conclusion with an inspiring performance for the ages.

Just one year ago, in fact, the Heat and the Celtics were in Game 6 of the conference finals. Boston was up in the series, and the sixth game was at TD Garden. Miami’s roster was breaking down with injury. Butler was nursing a sore knee, and in a stunning stretch between Games 3-5, had managed just 27 points on 10-of-40 shooting — shocking because he’d been so thoroughly dominant to that point in the playoffs.

You either know, or could guess, what happened next. Butler marched onto the court in Game 6, in front of a hostile crowd, and obliterated the Celtics with 47 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Never a 3-point shooter by nature, he knocked down four 3s in that game and was 11-for-11 at the foul line.

A truly remarkable, season-saving performance from Butler, who conjured memories of former Heat star LeBron James doing the same thing in a Game 6 to the Celtics, in Boston, 10 years prior.

There have been others. Those stunning answers to LeBron in the 2020 bubble finals. The 56 points he dropped on No. 1 Milwaukee in Game 4 of the first round, with Giannis Antetokounmpo back from injury. The 42 he followed up with in Game 5, to finish off the historic series upset, in overtime. Even Game 1 of the current series, against Boston, Butler opened with 35 points in a tone-setting shot sent over the Celtics’ bow.

But once again Butler and the Heat have fallen on hard times. They do not yet face elimination, but losing Game 6 would nevertheless be dabbling in the wrong side of history and a tempting of fate that might even be too dangerous for Butler.

Only three teams out of 150 that fell behind 3-0 forced a Game 7. Though none of them won that deciding game, all were playing on the road. If Butler and the Heat allow the Celtics to become the fourth to force a Game 7, they’d have to play that game in Boston.

It’s as close as you can get to an existential crisis without actually facing elimination. And Butler is again scuffling through a downturn in his own performances. He took just 10 shots in Game 5 and scored 14 points after a 9-of-21 shooting performance in Game 4.

The Celtics have disrupted Butler’s flow, preventing him from getting to the spots on the floor where he is most comfortable. They’ve also clamped down on Miami’s second-best player, Bam Adebayo, forcing him into 10 turnovers in two games.

“If we can get Jimmy in his comfort zones and strength zones more consistently, he’ll be just fine,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We all have to make sure that our two main guys are playing in their strength zones, and that’s on all of us. That’s on me, and that’s on everybody executing with intention.”

Other players on the Heat need to do better. Heading into Game 6 last year, Kyle Lowry and Max Strus were a combined 1-of-28 shooting in the previous two games. Strus was 5-of-12 for 13 points in last year’s Game 6. Lowry gave the Heat 18 points that night.

Strus and Lowry were sorely outplayed Thursday. They, and Adebayo, would do well to embark on their own renaissance for Game 6.

But it’s Butler who is saying it’s going to happen for the Heat, and happen right now. If he’s wrong, again, then Miami will be in the worst possible situation, with history breathing down its neck and all the positivity from its leader sounding hollow.

Butler can prevent that from happening. Game 6 can once again be his moment.

On Thursday night, he stood in the batter’s box and pointed toward the outfield wall.

Now he just needs to hit the next pitch there.

(Photo of Jimmy Butler: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)