Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat Can Gloat Over Haters, But Others Can’t

It’s the silliest cliché in sports.

It’s the one that sits near the vicinity of what Jimmy Butler said slightly above a monotone last month after his Miami Heat shocked the Celtics in Boston during the opening game of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals: “We don’t care if you pick us to win. We never have. We never will.”

That sounds like . . .

Nobody gave us a chance.

They said we couldn’t do it.

Only the people in this room knew we would win.

It was us against the world.

Or this one: “Not one of y’all said the Chiefs were gonna take it home this year! Not a single one! Feel that (censored)! Feel it.”

Those words raged like flames from the mouth of tight end Travis Kelce in February after his Kansas City Chiefs appeared in the Super Bowl for the third time in four years and won it for the second time during that stretch.

Huh? Don’t ask.

The same goes for this: Two college basketball seasons ago, when Michigan beat Tennessee to become only the sixth team to reach the Sweet 16 five straight times, Wolverines center Hunter Dickinson said he enjoyed the moment “because nobody believed in us. Everybody thought we shouldn’t even be in the tournament.”

Everybody? Nobody?

Actually, those disingenuous words from Dickinson, Kelce and others are appropriate for the Heat as they threaten to burn their way from the worst of the two play-in teams this season before the playoffs to four victories against the Denver Nuggets during the NBA Finals for a ring.

Which means Butler got his cliché exactly right.

We’re back to Butler’s comments after that 123-116 victory over the Celtics in Game 1 on May 17. He referred to Heat coach Eric Spoelstra as “Coach Spo” and to Heat president Pat Riley as “Coach Pat,” but he mostly referred to his team’s ability to prosper from that disrespect thing more than anybody in NBA history.

“We know the group of guys we have in this locker room,” Butler continued to say during his press conference. “We know that Coach Spo put so much confidence and belief in each and every one of us. Coach Pat as well. So our circle’s small, but the circle got so much love for one another.

“We pump constant confidence into everybody. And we go out there and hoop we play basketball the right way knowing that we always got a chance.”

Nobody figured Butler would combine with a bunch of role players to take the Heat this far into the playoffs. Well, nobody who stood more than a fast break beyond Himmy Buckets, who also is known as Jimmy Buckets, Playoff Jimmy or Jimmy (expletive) Butler, if you’re Charles Barkley.

This small forward with the big guts owns six NBA All-Star Game appearances during his 12 seasons in the league, and he ranks 41st on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest paid athletes at $47.8 million. If you go by his consistent ability to evolve into splendidly bonkers during the playoffs — especially during these playoffs — he’s the world’s most-underpaid athlete by a bunch.

Consider this Butler miracle: According to Caesars Sportsbook, the odds of the inconsistent Heat of the regular season making the NBA Finals entering the playoffs was 150-1. They began the postseason as more Ice than Heat by choking away their play-in game at home to the inferior Atlanta Hawks.

Then, with much help from Butler doing everything and everywhere on the court, the Heat reached the playoffs after they flattened the Chicago Bulls during another play-in game. Then they followed that by sprinting past the Milwaukee Bucks, the New York Knicks and the Celtics beyond just that Game 1.

The Heat eventually won Game 7 in Boston. Not only that, but they’ve spent the playoffs overcoming double-digit leads six times, which is the ultimate stuff of an underdog. Which is why those among the sane didn’t expect the Heat to do anything beyond dribble after the regular season.

In contrast, a large chunk of athletes, coaches and team officials among the mighty continue to declare that disrespect thing after huge victories, and they do so for reasons known only on Mars or maybe Jupiter.

“They thought we were gonna go 7-5. We end up perfect,” outside linebacker Nolan Smith told Maria Martin of Atlanta’ NBC affiliate WXIA after his University of Georgia football team crushed TCU 65-7 in January for a second consecutive national championship by going undefeated.

Who were “they,” and why would “they” believe yet another loaded Georgia team would go 7-5?

Not only that, but Smith was a Georgia team captain who majored in mathematics along his way to becoming a first-round pick in this past NFL Draft. He also received a couple of academic scholarships. Which means he’s smart enough to know the Bulldogs were among the handful of teams expected by just about (ahem) everybody before the season to reach the College Football Playoff.

Smith said that “7-5” thing anyway.

Whatever, dude.