Dwyane Wade says the Bulls are fortunate to have a Jimmy Butler
BOSTON – There’s not many players in the NBA that can do what Jimmy Butler does.
No one knows that more than three-time champion Dwyane Wade.
“It’s good to be able to have a guy like that, to say, ‘Get us 30 [points], and then go guard the guy who has 30,’ ‘’ Wade said on Monday, just one day after the Bulls beat top-seeded Boston to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
Wade then went as far as to name the handful of guys in the league that can go and fill the scorebook up, and then guard the opposing team’s best scorer, no matter the position.
“As I sit here, obviously Jimmy, Paul [George], Kawhi [Leonard], Draymond [Green], LeBron [James], I’m sure I’m leaving someone out,’’ Wade said. “So there’s some guys that can do that, and we’re fortunate to have one of them.’’
Which could be unfortunate for Boston.
As seen in that Game 1 victory, whenever there are key moments when coach Fred Hoiberg wants to slow down 5-foot-9 guard Isaiah Thomas, Butler will be on him. All 6-7 of Butler.
“Yeah, I had the luxury of playing with a guy named LeBron, and we did the same thing when we played [the Bulls] and Derrick Rose [in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals],’’ Wade said. “You have a guy in a point guard that guards them, but you have a guy that’s longer, just as fast, all those things, it helps. It gives them a different look. It kind of throws off things. I mean you’re not going to slow down Isaiah Thomas. He’s getting his looks and the guy can score as good as anybody you know in this game.
“Like I said, if you can give the offense a different look, they go out a little further, it takes a little more time off the clock, all those things help.’’
There were two key moments in which Butler was thrown on Thomas on Sunday. Once in the second quarter, and of course in the final five minutes of the game. Thomas only scored once in that fourth quarter when Butler stayed exclusively on him and wasn’t switched off of a screen.
While Hoiberg wasn’t going to detail the Game 2 gameplan for Butler on Thomas, he did say they had a general feel for when they want to do it, but it was subject to change based on the flow of the game.
Gravity works
Wade had one serious mishap in Game 1, jumping too early on a dunk attempt, and ending up with an ugly miss when the basketball went into the side of the rim.
That wasn’t going to go unnoticed, especially by Shaquille O’Neal, who collects player bloopers and features them on his TNT segment “Shaqtin’ A Fool.’’
So of course there was NBA player turned TV personality Dennis Scott at the Monday practice, asking Wade about the play on behalf of O’Neal.
“It’s an honor being on ‘Shaqtin’ A Fool,’ ‘’ Wade said. “Tell him I’m 35, I had a flashback in my mind. It just didn’t work out the way it was playing.’’
Staying the course
Even though reserve Bobby Portis completely outplayed starter Nikola Mirotic on Sunday, Hoiberg announced that the starting lineup and rotation will stay the same for Game 2.
“Bobby, he’s really been comfortable in that bench role,’’ Hoiberg said. “Niko has obviously had some big games for us as a starter. We’ll start the same way and hope we get production from both those guys.’’