IF THERE IS a basketball love language Tom Thibodeau and Jimmy Butler share, it centers on a single word: a four-letter one that starts with F. And it is said between them almost always as a sign of respect.
A few minutes after blasting -- and singing every word to -- a series of Nickelback songs from his portable speaker following a tough 126-114 overtime loss to the Orlando Magic in early March, 50 days prior to a showdown between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals that only the two of them could have predicted, Butler is standing in the corner of the visitors locker room inside Amway Center.