With 1.5 seconds remaining and the Chicago Bulls trailing by two, Jimmy Butler lost his defender, and Stacey King lost his mind.
It’s entirely acceptable to be amped up after watching Butler shed Atlanta Hawks guard John Jenkins (thanks, in part, to a Joakim Noah screen) before catching the inbounds pass, rising, firing and burying a game-winning 3-pointer to seal an 85-84 Chicago victory. For one thing, buzzer-beating daggers are always fun, even if they don’t count; for another, the left-wing triple capped a heck of a night for the 25-year-old swingman, who scored 20 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter to bring the Bulls back from a 21-point deficit. That’s pretty rad!
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The “Jimmy G. Buckets” thing, the “Gimme the hot sauce” thing, “Drive home safely — beep beep!” thing … these are all generally accepted parts of King’s regular rotation, the kinds of things that end up on soundboards hosted on team websites. But this?
They should call him “Jimmy Jordan,” because he looked like Michael Jordan tonight!
And saying it again?
And he walks off like he knew it was good … Jimmy Jordan, because he played like Michael tonight!
No bueno, Stacey. I’m far from a Bulls-loving MJ enthusiast, and even I feel a little sick about this. You can’t just be out here throwing that around; I mean, not only are you calling games for the team Jordan elevated to the top of the NBA food chain, but you played with him. If anyone should be keeping that particular comparison under lock and key, it should be you!
King’s momentary misplacement of sanity aside, Butler’s game-winner was pretty great, and it looked even cooler from the stands:
Butler’s game-winner came on a catch-and-shoot 26-footer, but he did most of his damage on Thursday on the inside, making seven of his nine field-goal attempts in the paint and going 12-for-16 from the charity stripe, including 9-for-11 in the fourth, to spark the comeback. The big outing continues a strong training camp for Butler, who’s averaging 18.6 points on 60 percent shooting, 5.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and three combined blocks and steals in his 28.9 minutes per game through five preseason contests.
While head coach Tom Thibodeau and center Joakim Noah don’t sound particularly pleased with the play that got Chicago into the 21-point hole in the first place, there’s an awful lot to like about the offensive confidence Butler has shown this preseason, as Mark Strotman of Comcast SportsNet Chicago writes:
“My confidence is high, and that’s the way you have to play this game,” Butler said after the game. “All summer, I worked on my game. The biggest thing is just confidence, just taking shots I know I can make. I’m very happy the way I’m going right now.” […]
“Jimmy, he’s just a good player, that’s what he is,” Thibodeau said. “He’s going to score in transition, he can score in the post, he can score moving without the ball, cutting, he gets to the free throw line, he can make shots. He’s an all-around scorer; he’ll find different ways to put the ball in the basket.”
With every confident take and make, the All-Defensive Second Team wing — who’s set to become a restricted free agent after this season if he and the Bulls don’t reach an agreement on an extension by the Oct. 31 deadline — could be cranking up his price tag. If he can carry this shot-making swagger into the season, he could offer a big boost as “another threat” for a Bulls team with designs on competing for an NBA title. That’d be great to see, of course … but maybe we shouldn’t start designing the statue just yet.
Hat-tip to SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell on the Instagram video.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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