Jimmy Butler’s Late Turnover Criticized by NBA Twitter in Game 5 Loss to Nuggets

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images

Jimmy Butler chose the worst time to have his worst game of the postseason.

The man that brought so many magical moments for the Miami Heat over the last couple of months seemed to just run out of gas in Game 5 of the NBA Finals as the Heat fell 94-89 to the Denver Nuggets, who won their first title Monday night.

Nearly invisible for the first three quarters of the game, Butler turned up the heroics in the fourth, scoring 13 consecutive points for the Heat and nearly dragging them to victory all on his own with a chance to force Game 6 in Miami.

But then he had the costliest mistake of the season.

Down 90-89 with 27.1 seconds remaining, Butler threw a sloppy pass to Max Strus that was picked off by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who got fouled and ended up making both free throws.

Butler then took a misguided contested three-pointer with a chance to tie the game that was way off.

It may be unfair criticism given that he was clearly hampered by the sprained ankle he suffered a few weeks back, but it’s moments like these when it has become expected for Butler to shine.

And in the biggest moment, he didn’t.

NBA Twitter was disappointed in his performance and critical of that final turnover.

While it may have looked like Butler had a decent offensive game, finishing with a team-high 21 points with five assists, three rebounds and three steals, it could not be further from the truth for most of the night.

He shot just 5-of-18 from the field, with three of those field goals coming in the final few minutes of the game. His typical mid-range jumpers and touch shots near the rim all looked short, a symptom of that bad ankle.

It looked like he would be the hero once again when he got aggressive, making two late threes and three free throws to cut a nine-point deficit to one. He even gave the Heat a one-point lead twice. But he just couldn’t pull this one out.

It was too little, too late.

Despite all the criticism, Butler and the Heat gave NBA fans one of the most memorable postseason runs in league history, becoming just the second eighth seed to ever make the Finals.

They beat the top two seeds in the Eastern Conference as huge underdogs and competed hard against the Nuggets despite being dinged up and undermanned.

This is now the second consecutive playoffs in which Butler has given the world something truly special. Hopefully it’s appreciated, because only time will tell if he’s able to do it again.