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Bill Simmons on 3/25/23: “There’s Jimmy and Spo and Bam and Riley lurking every April like Michael F*cking Myers. You know how the movie ends, and you’ll probably survive, but you’ll also probably be standing in your burning house covered in blood. Any Jimmy Butler team scares the sh*t out of me.”

  • April 25, 2023


Thought this was especially prescient given the Heat currently hold a 3-1 lead over the Bucks due to Jimmy Butler’s incredible play. Bill was notorious about his fear for the “zombie heat”, and so far it appears he’s been validated.

How far can Jimmy Butler take the Heat in the playoffs, despite their injuries and thinned depth?

[Source](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4pivKwMLA8weNjjeIaTsFZ?si=de555a592252491d)

33 comments

  1. I know the “Zombie Heat” has become a bit of a meme, but it was always surprising to me that anyone had written the Heat off. Even when they looked terrible. Same with the Warriors and Lakers.

    The regular season is becoming more and more misleading with each passing year. Best of 7 post-season basketball is like a different sport entirely.

  3. He was right. Kevin Love went from a buyout guy to knocking down threes and taking charges. Duncan Robinson has somehow been resurrected into Bubble Duncan again. Jimmy went from 48% in the midrange to 55% and from 35% from three to 52%. They’re just fucking zombies.

  4. Then he immediately changed his mind after the loss to the Hawks. The Bulls also played them really tough and I thought Miami was about to miss the playoffs entirely lol

  6. Except for gamers, who wouldn’t be afraid if unknowingly you’re facing a zombie?

  7. The thing with Bill is that he’s had so many different takes on so many different NBA topics, you can find one to suit whatever narrative you like. He has podcasts arguing that Trae Young is trash. He has podcasts arguing that Trae Young is amazing. He has podcasts arguing that Fox is trash. He has podcasts arguing that Fox is amazing. He has podcasts arguing that the Heat are to be feared. He has podcasts arguing that the Heat are trash and have nothing in common with last year’s team.

  8. As a Celtics fan who wanted to face anyone but the Heat round 1, it felt like I believed in the Heat more than most Heat fans did going into the postseason lol.

    Thanks Trae-In Young 🙏🏼

  14. If the Heat pull this off, it’s Jalen Brunson and the Knicks standing between them and the ECF, but who knows what would happen in that series.

    This version of the Heat are just as capable of sweeping the Celtics as the are of being swept by the Knicks.

  15. People talk a lot of shit about BS but in the end he’s probably forgotten more about basketball history than we all know.

  20. As a founding member of the Jimmy G Buckets fan club, I will never forgive the Bulls for surrounding Jimmy with non-shooters in Wade & Rondo, then declaring Butler was impossible to build around and trading him for players instead of picks trying to short cut the rebuild process.

  24. It’s becoming more evident that playoff basketball is a different sport because it’s officiated differently and coaches have the time to focus entirely on one team.

  25. Imagine if Riley stopped trying to get whales with worse assets than everyone else who is trying to get the same whales with better assets and instead just built a competent roster around Jimmy. Imagine if we had gettable guys like Hartenstein and SlowMo.

  26. I know I’m bias but this team can get to the finals playing like this. Next round is the Knicks who will be tough but not impossible, and we’ve seen Jimmy cook both Boston and Philly. No, it’s likely but playoff Jimmy got this team looking different man.

  28. Bill Simmons is going to ride this correct take for the next fucking decade, goddammit.

  30. Remember when an all star player with no real stand out playoff resume kept calling his teammates soft and saying they weren’t winners?

    I can’t believe Jimmy was one shot away from a second finals appearance in 3 years and is now one game away from knocking off the one seed

  31. Ngl. I think the Celtics are gonna get beat by the Heat. Spo is one of the best playoff coaches in NBA history and Joe Mezulla is practically untested.

  32. All the Celtics fans who said we shouldn’t be scared of them were fools. Atlanta did us a major solid by winning the play-in

  33. Jimmy Butler and Spo up 3-1 on the first seed with Bam, past-prime Kyle Lowry, four undrafted players, and two buyout guys.

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