Jimmy Butler picks up offensive foul, knocks down Chris Paul after incident with Duncan Robinson
Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler was called for a pretty blatant offensive foul after charging into Chris Paul during their 116-115 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night.
Turns out, he did that on purpose.
He was defending Duncan Robinson.
Chris Paul throws ball off Duncan Robinson
Robinson and Paul were matched up late in the second quarter, and were fighting for a ball in the corner.
Paul ended up ripping the ball away from Robinson but started losing his balance as he did so, and was going to fall out of bounds. Before he did, he threw the ball of of Robinson and out of bounds — a smart basketball play that gave his team the possession.
That, though, didn’t sit well with Butler.
The next time down the court, Butler drove right at Paul and blatantly extended his arm to knock him down.
Instantly, he was called for the offensive foul.
fun sequence of events pic.twitter.com/aY3pY4ZZX3
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) August 13, 2020
That foul, he said after the game, was intentional.
“You’re not gonna throw the ball at my teammate like that. … You mess with one of my guys, especially one of my shooters, then you gotta deal with me and everybody else.”
—Jimmy Butler on Chris Paul throwing the ball at Duncan Robinson pic.twitter.com/vS8BQt5buJ— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 13, 2020
“You’re not gonna throw the ball at my teammate like that,” Butler said after the game.
“We don’t do that here. You mess with one of my guys, especially one of my shooters, then you gotta deal with me and everybody else.”
Though the two teams likely won’t square off again this season, it’s clear that Butler is more than ready to stand up for his teammates against anybody — even against a player like Paul, who is one of the most respected and well-liked players in the league.
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