There were no melees involving Miami Heat Jimmy Butler and his Indiana Pacers counterpart T.J. Warren, who had gotten into a scuffle back in January that led to Butler calling him “trash” and literally circling their next meeting on Instagram.
What did happen is Butler completely shut down Warren, who had been up to this point the bubble MVP, getting buzz for his incredible play for the Pacers. He shot 5-of-14 with just 12 points in the 114-92 blowout, with Butler disrupting him for much of the night.
And afterwards, both Butler and the Heat Twitter account celebrated with what might be nods to the Butler-Warren saga.
First, here’s some info on Butler’s lockdown D:
And this is what Butler posted on Instagram afterwards, not naming Warren, but simply saying “mood.”
And the Heat changed their profile photo to this:
That’s a reference to Butler kissing Warren goodbye after the Pacers forward was ejected in their previous matchup:
Petty? Perhaps. But these two meet again in the bubble later in the week … and they might play each other in the postseason. If it’s an attempt to get into Warren’s head, it may help them down the road.
.png?w=600)
