PHILADELPHIA — Considering the fact that he played for the 76ers for less than a season, Jimmy Butler certainly made an impression on the fans of Philadelphia. To call him an enigma in the city would be an understatement. Some fans loved him. Others loathed him. Some wanted the Sixers to bring him back on a full five-year max deal, others were relieved to see him sign elsewhere over the offseason. Both sides of that equation were in attendance for Butler’s first return visit to South Philadelphia as a member of the Miami Heat on Saturday night.
Philadelphia fans are known for wearing their emotions on their sleeve, and Butler had them in their feels. Many showed up to boo Butler, still bitter about the way his time with the Sixers ended, and the fact the scrappy forward is no longer part of “The Process.” Some cheered him when he was initially introduced, grateful for the run that the two sides shared. A few stayed silent during his player introduction, though those individuals were few and far between.
Entering the evening, both the Heat and 76ers were in the top five in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, which added to the intensity. Overall, the game had the feel of a pair of exes running into each other for the first time after a bad breakup, with each side trying to show the other that they’re in a better place now, and this time, it was the Sixers who walked away feeling like they upgraded.
Philadelphia used smothering defense to dominate Miami basically from the opening tip, as the Sixers were clearly the deeper, more talented team on Saturday night. They held the Heat to 86 points on 40 percent shooting from the floor, and they displayed a well-rounded effort on the offensive end, putting up 113 points. Ben Simmons set the table for his teammates with eight assists. Joel Embiid was his usual productive self with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Tobias Harris and Al Horford combined for 35 points and 14 rebounds. Meanwhile, the Heat looked largely answer-less on both ends of the floor. They were outscored 28-13 in the first quarter and were never able to recover.
Butler played poorly in his return to Philadelphia, as he finished with 11 points on just 4-for-13 shooting in 30 minutes. He was also a game-worst -31. Both teams were on the second night of a back-to-back, so that can’t really be used as an excuse. Perhaps the consistent chorus of boos raining down on Butler every time he touched the ball had a negative impact on his play, though he denied that after the game, instead insisting that he didn’t pay any attention to the jeers of the fans of his former franchise.
“To tell you the truth, it’s just another NBA game for me,” Butler said. “I’m in it to win, home or away. Our job was to come here and win and we didn’t do that today. … We’ll talk about it and well, we have another one on Monday at home where we can take care of home court.”
To make matters more satisfying — and promising — for the Sixers, Josh Richardson, the man that the Sixers received in the sign-and-trade that sent Butler to Miami, and thus Butler’s de facto replacement in the eyes of many, had his best game of the season against his former team, as he poured in 32 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field and played lockdown defense on the other end. He also added four assists for good measure. The game was just one of 82 on the season, but Richardson certainly outplayed Butler in this one. And though he downplayed the personal importance of the game before tip time, he was clearly playing with a chip on his shoulder against the team that shipped him away in order to make room for Butler.
“He was very good on both sides of the ball tonight,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said of Richardson after the game. “He was stalking people down, making people have to chew up clock on full-court entries. He made it difficult all over the place. He was stalking and he was harassing. From that, you then saw him score. I really think it was a fine performance on both sides of the ball.”
The Heat have had a surprisingly solid start to the season, but after watching them get dismantled by Philadelphia, it’s tough to take them very seriously as a contender as currently constructed. They seem to be at least a piece or two away. The Sixers, on the other hand, appear to be deeper and (arguably) more talented than they have been in the past. Sure, they still have some work to do, but their ceiling remains as high as that of any team in the league. It was only one game, so no sweeping generalizations should be made. But, for now at least, the Sixers seem to be doing fine without Butler.
