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Jimmy Butler's talent has been praised this postseason. From his toughness to his elite shooting, there's a reason he's earned the nickname “Himmy Buckets.”
But one talent we didn't know the Miami Heat star had was clairvoyance. But according to tennis star and Heat fan Coco Gauff, Butler is either great at predicting the future or just very confident.
In the run-up to the French Open, Gauff hinted that she had a “funny story” about Butler but was “going to keep it to herself” to avoid cursing her.
However, after their first-round win at Roland Garros on Tuesday and, more importantly, the Heat's dominant Game 7 victory over the Boston Celtics to book their ticket to the NBA Finals against Denver Nuggets, Gauff said she was finally ready to tell it. the history.
Gauff, who said she didn't watch Game 7 because it was played in the middle of the night before her first-round game but was “very relieved” to see the outcome, explained that before the playoffs, Butler reached out to her to offer her tickets to the final home game of the season in April, before contacting her a few weeks later to offer her tickets to the postseason.
“I said, 'I won't be here. I will be in Madrid and then in Rome and then in France,'” Gauff told reporters.
“And then he said, 'Okay, when we get to the final, let me know if your family wants some tickets.' So this was before [the Heat] They were tied in the playoffs.
“This is before we lost to the Hawks in the first Play-In game. Everyone says we have a 3% chance of making it to the finals, but when he sent me that, I knew we were going to make it to the finals because he didn't say, 'If we make it to the finals,' he said, 'When we make it to the finals.' .' Now that we are in the final, I can tell that story.
“But I remember taking a screenshot and sending it to my family and I was like, 'Oh, we're going to the finals!'”
Butler's confidence stayed with the 19-year-old, as she said, “I really like that mentality that she has.”
Gauff also revealed that he was encouraged by the Heat's determination in Game 7 after blowing a 3-0 lead to the Celtics in the series only to emerge victorious.
“Honestly, I told myself today that if Jimmy Butler didn't freak out when they were up 3-0 and suddenly it was 3-3, then I shouldn't freak out after losing the first set,” Gauff said on court after her comeback against Rebeka Masarova.
Butler has played a vital role in the eighth-seeded Heat's miraculous run to the NBA Finals, beating the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks, the No. 5 New York Knicks and, most recently, the No. 2, Celtics.
The NBA Finals begin Thursday in Denver.
