Jimmy Butler is Defending LeBron James Better Than We Could Have Expected
Coming into this series, a big factor for the Bulls was whether Butler could consistently slow down LeBron just enough and force him to score more for the Bulls to win four games. I think it’s safe to say Jimmy has harrassed him to a Kawhi Leonard-level so far.
Although James is averaging 26.0 points, 11.3 rebounds, 9.0 assists, 1.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks (phenomenal numbers by the way), he has been very inefficient.
He’s averaging 26.5 shots per game and making only 37.7% of those shots through these four games. He’s also shooting nearly five 3-pointers per game and making 10.5% of them, worse than the Derrick Rose numbers everyone was hating on during most of the season.
On top of all of that, Butler is forcing him to turn the ball over 5.8 times per game; seven times in Game 3 and eight times in Game 4.
At this point, we can only expect Jimmy to continue employing his stellar defense and flummoxing LeBron into having mediocre performances.
Next: Bulls' Stars > Cavs' Stars