Jimmy Butler Sheds Light on 2-Year-Old ‘Beef’ With ’23 NBA Finals Opponent Nikola Jokic Hours Before Locking Heads

A true David vs Goliath battle awaits us. Many expect the NBA Finals to be a close war, the two teams this year, however, are opposites in terms of stature. Both the Nuggets and Miami come in with different histories in mind. While Miami looks to win its first title in a decade, Denver is chasing its first title ever. At the epicenter of it all? Jimmy Butler and Nikola Jokic.

The two are clear-cut best players on their respective sides of the bracket. Denver opened the betting sheets as a historic favorite. But Miami? They’ve been here before. Against the Nuggets, however, they might be facing their toughest challenge yet. In the build-up to the series, Jimmy Butler cleared the air on the alleged beef between the two superstars.

Jimmy Butler doesn’t hold any grudges against Nikola Jokic

The story is pretty straightforward. In a matchup between the two teams, Jokic hit former Heat player Markieff Morris in the back after a hard shove from the Morris twin. From there, the situation escalated and Jimmy, in particular, was livid. Clearly seen mouthing, “Pull that s#!t in the back. ” Butler was understandably upset.

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With Jimmy playing some of the best basketball of his life and the Heat-Nuggets finally facing off, there was a beef to revisit. Upon being prodded about their interaction, Jimmy cleared the air. Butler assured the media that his beef wasn’t with the Joker. Further, he even called the shoving incident just a consequence of “high-level competition. “

While Jimmy cleared the air between the two superstars, the beef on the court may be far from over. He did remind everyone stating, “The individual I was talking to definitely know who I was talking to.” As the Heat have gone on this historic run, the Nuggets would not want to add any further fuel to their fire. After a grueling 7-game series, Butler and the Heat are ready for the Finals. While most players would be happy about their 8th-seed team making the Finals, Butler is hungry for more.

Butler’s drive to win the Finals

Outlining his mindset in his conversation with Malika Andrews, Jimmy said, “From the time I started playing basketball, the end goal, the end result that I want it to be is the Championship trophy.” Doubling down on his mentality, Butler further added, “You can take the All-Stars…you can take the All-NBAs…all-Defense teams, don’t care. I really only want to win the Championship.”

With a team as gritty as the Heat and a player as focused as Jimmy, it’s hard to count them out. Can the Nuggets survive and win the title? We’ll find out, starting Game 1. Who do you have winning the championship? Let us know in the comments.

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