22 FTA vs. Charlotte Hornets, January 2
What a way to ring in the new year, I suppose. Butler went off. He scored 52 points with 12 rebounds, six assists and three steals. There was also a statistic put out there somewhere showing that Butler is the first player to score at least 52 points on 24 or fewer shots since 1994. That is impressive.
So if he only took 24 shots, making 15 of those attempts, where did the rest of his points come from? You already know the answer. Butler shot 21-for-22 at the free throw line in this game. There’s bound to be a lot cover, so let’s jump in:
Foul One: Spencer Hawes couldn’t contain Butler’s drive to the rim. No flop in sight.
Foul Two: Recurring theme here: Defender, Nicolas Batum, isn’t fast enough to stay in front of Butler. Butler is also too strong to get lost in the contact, can finish the rim run. No flop.
Foul Three: Frank “The Tank” Kaminsky commits the sin of leaving his feet and receives his due punishment. Another non-flop foul call for Butler who smartly launches into a shot as soon as he sees that he has Kaminsky in a vulnerable position. No flop, dude.
Foul Four: Batum tries to fit through a Lopez screen. To beat the screen, he has to go into Butler. Again, Butler recognizes this and puts up a shot. No flop.
Foul Five: Roy Hibbert very much makes sure that Butler can’t finish the transition break with a slam dunk. No flop.
Foul Six: A soft call against Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. The referee definitely didn’t like the way MKG was tracking Butler through the Lopez screen with his arm. Butler clearly feels the contact and by simply tipping his shoulders forward so that they are no longer over his hips, he gets the call. No flop.
Foul Seven: Kemba Walker didn’t see the footage of Johnson trying to take the charge in the Miami vs. Chicago game. He tries, isn’t going to get the call whether he should have or not. Pretty impossible to flop when you charge right into someone else.
Foul Eight: Butler toys with Hawes before blowing by him, leaving the living, breathing man bun no choice but to foul. No flop.
Foul Nine: Not even on Butler, but Kidd-Gilchrist is so heated after dealing with Butler all night that a technical gets issued against Charlotte. Butler converts the free throw. Not even possible to flop that one.
Fouls Ten and Eleven: Intentional fouls at the end of the game, no flopping involved.
So Butler got to the line over and over by using his physical strength and deceptive quickness. In each clip, the defender is out of position or required to do so much work to track Butler that they can’t stay in control of their body to the same extent that Butler is able.
Chicago won this game, 118-111.
We have covered all five of Butler’s highest total free throw games. The total from the Charlotte matchup was 11 fouls, 11-0 in favor of no flops.
The final score is: Not Flopping 42-3 Flopping.
At this point, I feel comfortable concluding that Jimmy Butler does not flop. His ability to draw contact while maintaining control of his body using superior speed and strength creates a mismatch that defenders have difficulty coping with. He can draw fouls and convert free throws at rates that are among the very best in the league and he is the singular reason that the Chicago Bulls aren’t scouting Lonzo Ball or Markelle Fultz instead of their next NBA opponent.