Chicago Bulls: 3 NBA stars Garrett Temple shut down on defense

2) Stars Chicago Bulls SG Garrett Temple shut down

Jimmy Butler

Definitely the most interesting matchup on this list that Temple did well with defensively was against the former Bulls star shooting guard/small forward (now with the Miami Heat) Jimmy Butler. “Jimmy G. Buckets” and the defending Eastern Conference Champion Heat had a magical run last season that didn’t have much to do with Temple and the Nets.

But there are past matchups where Butler (even during his run with the Bulls at the beginning of his career) was given a lot of problems by Temple’s one-on-one defending ability. Temple and Butler have faced each other on 16 occasions in the regular season, and in one playoff series. That one playoff series saw Temple emerge victorious when he was a member of the Washington Wizards, over Butler and the Bulls back in 2014.

In the 16 regular season matchups between Butler and Temple, the former of the two averaged 14.2 points per game, 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.4 blocks, and 1.8 turnovers. And Butler shot a rather poor 37.6 percent from the field, 25.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 79.4 percent from the free-throw line.

Temple really did do a remarkable job throughout the 2010’s in defending Butler. While Butler isn’t the greatest shooter from deep two, or three-point range, he is not that bad as he was in 16 tries against Temple’s teams. Butler is around a career 46 percent shooter from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. Temple was a problem for him on that end of the floor.