Butler said that the team always had the confidence to reach the current stage in the playoffs regardless of the situation they were in and what the media was projecting. He complimented his teammates and the coaching staff for showing love for each other throughout the entire process.

Credit:

The Miami Heat came in as underdogs in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics. However, a dominant third quarter helped them take home-court advantage away and walk out with a victory.

Jimmy Butler

Jimmy  Butler
Jimmy  Butler
MIN: 34.46
PTS: 24.21 (64.65%)
REB: 5.9
As: 5.36
ST: 1.87
BL: 0.39
TO: 1.68
GM: 77

After the game, Heat's superstar forward Jimmy Butler didn't want to admit that it's something that the squad never thought would be possible to achieve after beginning the postseason in the play-in tournament.

"Damn right I did, damn right we did," he said when asked whether the Heat expected to be in this situation before the start of the playoffs. "The best part about it is that we still don't care what none of y'all think, honestly speaking. We don't care if you pick us to win, we never have, we never will."

"We know the group of guys that we have in this locker room, we know that coach [Eric] Spo[elstra] puts a lot of confidence and belief in each and every one of us, coach Pat as well. Our circle's small but the circle's got so much love for one another, we pump constant confidence into everybody," Butler explained. "We guard and we hoop, we play basketball the right way, knowing that we always have a chance."

Even after winning Game 1, FiveThirtyEight projects only a 44% chance for the Heat to advance to the NBA Finals, placing the Celtics as the favorites of the series.

Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Friday, May 19th, at 8:30 PM EST.

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