Richard, the father of Boston Celtics guard Derrick White, taunted Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler on X (formerly known as Twitter) by uploading a photo of himself and the younger White holding the Eastern Conference Finals trophy, also known as the Bob Cousy Trophy.
The older White is referring to Butler telling Bam Adebayo he’ll “hold the next one” while the Heat were celebrating their victory in Game 7 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics and receiving the Bob Cousy trophy.
However, unlike the Celtics, who defeated the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the 2024 NBA Finals, the 2022-23 Heat never won the league’s most coveted hardware, the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Butler and the Heat were swept by Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and the Denver Nuggets in the 2023 championship series, despite defeating the younger White’s Celtics in the conference finals. To add insult to injury, Butler failed to live up to his playoff reputation when the lights were brightest.
Butler’s scoring average decreased from more than 24 points per game in each of Miami’s first three series of the 2023 NBA Playoffs to just 21.6 points per game versus Denver. He didn’t even lead the Heat in scoring during the championship series, despite Adebayo’s team-high average of 21.8 points per game.
Furthermore, Butler did not contribute to Miami’s efficient scoring rate. He made just 41.3 percent of his shots from the field in the series and only shot more than 50 percent in one of the five games, Miami’s Game 4 loss at home.
Given how many playoff games the Heat and Celtics have played in recent years, a rivalry appears to have evolved between the two clubs, and it will be interesting to watch how Miami responds to the older White’s troll job on social media.
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