Jimmy Butler was a valuable player during the Eastern Conference Finals. Most valuable? That was a toss-up.
Butler received five of the nine votes from a media panel covering the Eastern Conference Finals.
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 30, 2023
The voting results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/78bBxho5Yh
In a close 5-4 vote, Butler won the Larry Bird Trophy, awarded to the most valuable conference finals player in the East (The West has the Magic Johnson Trophy).
Five media members chose Butler, while four of them went with teammate Caleb Martin, who shot 11-of-16 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range in Game 7.
For the series, he was 22-45 (48.9 percent) and made more threes than Boston's Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined.
Made 3s in the series
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) May 30, 2023
Jayson Tatum + Jaylen Brown 18
Caleb Martin + Tyler Herro* 22
*did not play
Butler led the Heat in scoring, assists and steals in the series, averaging 24.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 2.6 steals.
He dominated early in the series, but Boston smothered him later, holding him to 14 points in Game 5, and 5-of-21 shooting in Game 6 — though Butler almost won it with three late free throws.
Jimmy Butler hits all 3 free throws to put the Heat up 103-102 with 3 seconds left! pic.twitter.com/gkx1F7pYCQ
— hoops bot (@hoops_bot) May 28, 2023
Martin averaged 19.3 points and 6.4 rebounds with solid defense. Butler was the proverbial "head of the snake" on defense, but Martin, playing power forward despite being undersized, was instrumental shutting the Celtics down for many of the Heat wins.
Still, his MVP case comes down to the stunning number of big shots he hit, some with the clock running out.
Caleb Martin beats the 3rd quarter buzzer with a fadeaway
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 30, 2023
Martin has 23 points and the Heat lead the Celtics after 3, 76-66.pic.twitter.com/2k6IjmPXJ1
The deciding vote for Butler came from TNT's Reggie Miller, who was calling Martin the MVP during the broadcast of Game 7.
How did Reggie Miller spend the entire series saying Martin was the MVP if the Heat won, then vote for Butler???
— Justin Termine (@TermineRadio) May 30, 2023
Lol pic.twitter.com/05Q8UDD9dW
Miller also spent much of Game 7 making "ca-ching" noises when Martin made a shot, and discussing how much money Martin would make as a free agent.
Fortunately for Miami, Martin is under contract for a bargain price of $6.8M next year.
The vote is defensible either way. Miami doesn't win the series without either player, and Martin's recent excellence shouldn't make voters forget how good Butler was earlier in the series.
Martin shot a much higher percentage, but Butler got to the free throw line 54 times to Martin's eight.
Martin will have to content himself with getting revenge on Boston for last year's conference finals loss, and with reaching his first NBA Finals.
But when ESPN takes over coverage of the Finals, Martin might have questions for Doris Burke and Tim Bontemps about their votes.
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