Miami forward Jimmy Butler on Friday vowed that the Heat would not roll over against the Los Angeles Lakers, despite a second-straight double-digit defeat in the NBA Finals.
“We’re never giving up,” Butler said. “We’re going to fight and we’re going to ride with this thing til the wheels fall off.”
“It’s not over,” Butler said. “We’re just down 0-2. We’ve got to do something special. We’re capable of it.”
Photo: AFP
The Heat were swimming against a fierce tide on Friday after Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo — both injured in Wednesday’s Game 1 blowout loss — were ruled out of Game 2 and possibly beyond in the best-of-seven championship series.
Dragic was the Heat’s leading scorer this post-season and Adebayo was averaging double-digit points and rebounds.
However, Butler said it is not about who is on the floor, it is about putting in the effort as the Heat try to avoid falling into an 0-3 hole — from which no NBA team have come back to win a best-of-seven series.
“We’ve got to play damn-near perfect in order to beat those guys over there,” Butler said.
“We have yet to do it, and if we don’t do it soon it’s not going to be pretty,” he said.
Game 3 is to be played tomorrow morning, Taiwan time.
Game 4 is on Wednesday, with Game 5, if required, to be played on Saturday.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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