The Opening Tip

• Jimmy Butler had a legendary game on the biggest stage
• For whatever reason, the NBA Finals ratings are way down
• Lakers fans are getting petty with Kyle Kuzma

1. The Lead: Jimmy Butler elevated his all-time status with last night’s win

This whole season has been eye-opening for the people and organizations -- the Bulls and 76ers among them -- who considered Jimmy Butler a second-tier star in the NBA.

Fifth seed and bubble considered, he’s been the best player on a team that reached the NBA Finals.

But last night’s performance will be remembered as a turning point -- as tangible evidence that Butler is capable of being a great, great player.

The Heat, entering last night ... 

• … were down 0-2 in the Finals. 
• … were 9.5-point underdogs. 
• … were missing Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo, their second and third best players.

… and Butler responded by putting up the third 40-point triple-double in Finals history in a nine-point win.

His line:

• 14-of-20 shooting, 40 points, 11 rebounds, a playoff career-high 13 assists, 2 blocks, 2 steals.  

Whether or not this becomes his last stand and the Lakers win the next two, Butler will always have last night, like LeBron had Game 1 of the 2018 Finals, like Allen Iverson had Game 1 of the 2001 Finals, like Michael Jordan had the 63-point game in 1986. 

The elusive question when quantifying greatness is simple: What did you do when it mattered most?

Last night, when it mattered more than any game he had ever played in, Butler had the best game he ever played.

2. Rajon Rondo forever

The NBA is a much better place when its resident oddball is relevant and doing black magic layups like this one from last night.

3. The NBA desperately needed a game like last night

Pick your reason as to why, but the facts are the facts: An all-time low number of people are watching the 2020 NBA Finals. 

1. Game 1 on Wednesday night averaged 7.41 million viewers. 
2. Game 2 on Friday night averaged only 4.5 million viewers. 

Both of those numbers set new lows for a Finals game since 1988. For reference, last year’s Game 1 between the Raptors and Warriors averaged 13.38 million viewers; Game 6 had 18.3 million. (Here’s a log of every rating of every Finals game over the last 32 years. Last night’s rating wasn’t immediately available.)

Race baiters push the idea that ratings are plummeting because of the NBA’s push for social justice, which isn’t evidenced beyond sporadic anecdotal Twitter eggs.

To that idea, we have two responses:

1. Racists weren’t watching the NBA in the first place. 
2. The Kentucky Derby, which was moved to September, had its lowest rated year since 2000. Was that because the winner, a horse named Authentic, said Black Lives Matter, or called for justice for Breonna Taylor? 

The low ratings are likely a combination of three things: 

1. A lopsided matchup. 
2. An NBA Finals in October in the middle of a pandemic. 
3. A sometimes lackluster feel to an inherently intense sporting event. Even the most die hard Lakers fan would have to relent that a Finals played in an AAU venue in front of almost no fans doesn’t quite feel like the capital F, script font Finals. 

Either way, what the NBA desperately needed was a win for the Heat last night. Now that it’s a series for at least one more game, Tuesday’s matchup will likely draw higher.

4. An online petition started by Lakers fans to not give Kyle Kuzma a ring if L.A. wins just hit its goal

The petition, started through Change.org, which is generally used for causes of actual consequence, had just hit its 10,000 signature goal at send time. 

Why does Kuzma not deserve a ring? Here’s the given argument in the petition:
 

Convincing, but to get even more specific, Kuzma’s been pretty bad over the last few rounds.

In the conference finals, he averaged 9.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and .8 assists on 29.4 shooting from deep.

In the first two games of the Finals, which prompted the petition, he scored three and 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting and made this horrifying turnover. (He was better last night.)

Kuzma was the one young player the Lakers (LeBron) didn’t trade for Anthony Davis. He was supposed to fill a distant Chris Bosh-esque role to the Lakers’ best two players, which never really happened.

Also: A reporter asked him last night “about social media haters” -- it would have been cruel to ask directly about the petition -- to which he responded:

5. The man and his dream

This picture of Jimmy Butler, an Orlando coffee shop owner who also plays basketball, was taken this morning. The grind (coffee pun) doesn’t stop. 

6. By the numbers

7.  Quick hits

• Here’s the context to Butler’s “they’re in trouble” comment at the end of the game.
• People made a big deal about LeBron leaving the court early last night. Here's the clip.
• Charles Barkley to Butler: "I have a question … you clearly have not made it to the barber in the bubble." Butler: “That’s not a question.” 
• What the hell was this J.R. Smith shot?

8.  Off the press

• The Heat Index at 10: When LeBron ruled ESPN.com [The Ringer]
• The rehabilitation of Rajon Rondo [ESPN]
• Zach Lowe: How LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers are smothering opponents [ESPN]