Official Site of the Heat · Jan 1, 2022
Coup’s Takeaways: HEAT Hold On In Houston
1. It’s easy to take great players for granted at times, especially ones as steady-handed as Jimmy Butler, but there’s a reason most projection systems favored Miami going into this one and Butler’s availability had a lot to do with it. Butler stiff-armed a Washington Wizards fourth-quarter run earlier this week, and every time Houston was gathering just a little momentum he was there with a jumper or a post-seal or a drive. Butler finished with season-high 37 points on 21 shots, and the HEAT simply don’t win this game without him.
In the end, this game came down to Miami having experienced vets who know how to close a game, and Houston having young players who don’t.
