NEW YORK — Jimmy Butler looked his coach in the eye and said he was staying in the game, no matter how much his ankle might have hurt.
The Miami Heat needed all season to turn into the team they expected, so no way Butler wants to miss a minute of it now.
Butler had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and the No. 8-seeded Heat kept rolling after barely reaching the postseason, beating the New York Knicks 108-101 on Sunday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
''We're just playing great basketball," Butler said in a postgame interview on the court with ABC, while still showing a limp after a fourth-quarter ankle sprain.