Jimmy Butler on Heat Advancing to the NBA Finals: "Nobody's Satisfied'

Jimmy, a year ago to the day we were sitting in a conference room in Miami and I asked you what you thought you guys needed to get over the threshold and you said in part you knew you could get it done. Why was that belief in that moment so strong and what does it feel like to be right? I just know why Coach Pat and Coach Spoh wanted me to be here and that's to compete at a high level and to win championships. I know that the group that they put around me at all times is gonna give me an opportunity to do so. So I was always very very confident in that. I worked extremely hard with the team, with Brickley. I can score on Remy all day every day as I've posted on Instagram. So I'm just confident. I know the work that we all put into it so I know what we're capable of but nobody's satisfied. We haven't done anything. We don't play just to win the Eastern Conference. We play to win the whole thing. Have you been taken aback by some of the shots that Caleb Martin has made? We know he's obviously as a tough competitor has come a long way but some of the shots he was hitting tonight and maybe even earlier in the series did any of them like surprise you at all? No, that might have surprised y'all to the untrained eye. He just looks like he's an undrafted guy who's been in the G League, who's started in West Charlotte and now he's here. Started on a two-way contract. To y'all that's what it looks like. To us he's a hell of a player, a hell of a defender, playmaker, shot maker, all of the above. Everybody's seen Caleb work on those shots day in and day out so it doesn't surprise us. We've seen it every single day and I'm so proud and happy for him and he's gonna even be even better in his next round and I don't think he's gonna be the surprise to anybody else any longer. Jimmy, Spoh was just talking about Caleb saying that he has the respect of you guys being a competitor. How has he earned that aside from what he's done on the floor for you all? I think that everybody sees what he's doing in the games but the real work is done when he's in the gym by himself with his trainer, all the countless amounts of reps to prepare him for this moment. He doesn't shy away from it. So many guys on our roster, they never shy away from the big moment. We love them for that. We want them to continue to be that and he's been huge for us. He really has been. He's kept us in the game. He's won us some games on both sides of the floor. I mean if he hadn't showed y'all now, he's gonna be in this league for a long time. Caleb is part of this but this is the third game in this series where you guys shot 50% from three. What can you say about not, I mean obviously you made some threes too, but the other guys on the team stepping up and just with incredible shot making throughout the You want some Freak Boy stuff over here, man. We just, you know, we stay with it. We stay the course, shoot the open shots, stay confident even when they're not going in. You got to take them. You got to take the right ones. Every one that everybody takes, everybody thinks is going in and then if you get that same shot, the next possession down, you got to take it again because we all think it's going in. Everybody's confidence is so high. We got to believe that we can do something incredibly special. So we're gonna hit the ground running when we get to Denver and I like our chances. Jimmy, I want to ask about something that's been talked about with the Heat for literally decades, but you guys came in as an eight seed and you survived losing three in a row and all the history that was coming down at you. How does that apply to Heat culture, what you've been able to accomplish this particular spring? I'm not gonna say losing three in a row is part of the Heat culture that we like to talk about because we don't play to lose. We don't want to lose. They're an incredible team over there and it will be for a while. I just think, you know, the guys that Coach Spoh and Coach Pat put together, when a guy goes down, the next guy could fill in that gap and do exactly what that guy that went down did and do it at a high level. And then, you know, be humble enough to know that when that guy comes back, you got to take a step back and get back in your role. And nobody ever complains. They always do exactly what you ask of them to do, which is why you want to play with guys like that, which is why they're the reason that we win so many games. I don't call them role players. I call them teammates because your role can change any given day, especially with how many games I've missed and, you know, in and out of lineup, off nights, whatever you call it. But we got some hoovers. We got some real deal basketball players that can score, can defend, can pass, and can win games for us. You know in order to win a title and in the next round you're gonna have to get everybody to raise their game up, especially on the defensive end. But specific to Jokic, what do you think the key will be to slowing him down in this series? I don't know. I got two days to figure that out. We have two days to figure that out before game one. Oh my god, y'all saw that? Goddamn Bumblebee. So we will lock in on them. But you know, I think we get to enjoy this till midnight, which is right around the corner. And then it's time to lock in on the Nuggets. So I'll be able to answer that for you when I talk to you on Wednesday, I think.