Chicago Bulls: 3 NBA stars that Jimmy Butler has dominated

1) Opponents Jimmy Butler has dominated: Victor Oladipo

The first team that Butler and the Heat knocked out in the playoffs this year was the four-seed Indiana Pacers. And unless the Heat sweep the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals (with Game 3 taking place this weekend), then it will also be the most emphatic and dominant series win in their playoff run thus far.

And one of the bigger storylines in that first round series between the Pacers and Heat was the eye injury that former Indiana Hoosiers 6-foot-3 combo guard Victor Oladipo sustained in Game 1. Dipo got knocked in the eye coming down from trying to get a rebound and he was poked in the eye, and apparently couldn’t see well for much of the series.

The luck for Dipo has not been great of late in terms of timing of injuries. As soon as he got back from that quad tear this season, he had trouble finding his rhythm. The athleticism and twitchiness started to show back up down the stretch, but it took a while.

However, Butler has had a lot of success in the regular season and playoffs against Dipo and the Pacers. He has an 8-4 record against Dipo in 12 tries in the regular season, and 4-0 in the playoffs after the Heat’s sweep of Indy this year. Butler averaged 19.8 points per game, 5.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks in that playoff series.

And in the regular season, Butler averaged 17.4 points per game, 4.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.3 steals, and 0.7 blocks. against Dipo (as a member of the Pacers, Orlando Magic, and Oklahoma City Thunder).