Jimmy Butler is the Teammate You Want… Even from His Couch
For those of you who didn’t make it through last night’s Jazz/Timberwolves game Friday night, that might as well have started at midnight for some of us, you missed a pretty incredible game. It was entertaining in just about every facet.
Karl Towns was aggressive and dominating on the offensive end, early. Rudy Gobert was throwing Wolves’ shots into the 2nd row from everyone without KAT initials. That guy gets more impressive every time I watch him play. Utah is on a hot-streak and could surprise some teams, heading down the stretch.
Eventually, the Jazz won, what ended up being a closer game than what I expected, after Towns was ejected in the 2nd quarter. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that part? Towns was fouled in the 2nd quarter by Jae Crowder and in the shiver KAT delivered with his left arm, to gain position during the contact, an accidental blow to the chin of Crowder was also delivered (full summary video at bottom).
Now, the call itself was bullshit. This whole “incidental contact to the face” with an elbow/forearm is stupid. The contact was Crowder’s fault. That is even admitted by the refs, since he was the one the PERSONAL foul was called on, for the play. The only thing KAT was called for was a technical foul that derived from the contact from Crowder’s personal foul. Confused yet?
On top of that, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, the referees have discretion with this rule, where they dictate whether to call a flagrant foul or a technical foul. In last night’s case, there was a big difference. Because two technicals equals an ejection (one flagrant and one tech does NOT).
And, just before the 2nd half came to an end, shit hit the fan.
Karl-Anthony Towns scores over Gobert and picks up his 2nd technical of the game and is ejected. Weak. pic.twitter.com/ZzUbXS0Fuz
— Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) March 3, 2018
Are we having fun yet? Well, that was just the tipping point. The second half was even more eventful.
First, Jeff Teague got pissed off and may have taken out some of the frustration he’s had on the many Minnesota Ricky Rubio lovers, who have been sliding into Teague’s DM’s, on Ricky Rubio himself.
Jeff Teague gets ejected after hip-checking Ricky Rubio. pic.twitter.com/z0ClZn1eya
— ESPN (@espn) March 3, 2018
So, that led to an ejection for Teague and a Jae Crowder/Tom Thibodeau old-school bar mouth fight. You know, the kind that will never lead to anything, as friends from both sides are already on the way to get between the two? I have to give Thibs some credit, though. Crowder is a big man, but that’s the last thing on Tom’s mind. Whatever is on his mind, he wants Crowder to know about it.
Y aquí Tom Thibodeau quejándose y discutiendo con Jae Crowder, ¿por qué? ¿Es que no se pasa Teague? Qué actitudes tan cuestionables de los Timberwolves anoche… pic.twitter.com/FRizoYDZG9
— Anastasio Ríos (@Tasio93) March 3, 2018
So, Crowder got tossed too and Thibs picked up the Wolves’ 47th Technical foul (5th w/o exaggeration) of the game. At this point, even non-NBA people, were tuning in. The action was so good and so controversial, that Jimmy Butler was obviously foaming at the mouth to be a part of it, from somewhere other than Utah:
haven’t used Twitter in years. But yeah Jeff that’s what I like to see. Rubio getting up quick for no reason.
— Jimmy Butler (@JimmyButler) March 3, 2018
Jae get away from my coach. You don’t want no smoke either
— Jimmy Butler (@JimmyButler) March 3, 2018
Does Jimmy Butler care that Jeff Teague ran Ricky Rubio off the court, like a road-enraged GMC 2500 sick of the Volkswagen Jetta that can’t hold a consistent speed, in the left lane next to them?
Does Jimmy Butler care that Jae Crowder was minding his own business before Tom Thibodeau called him over to yell at him like he played on his own team?
Jimmy Butler doesn’t care because the only thing he cares about are his teammates. He picked up his Twitter for the first time since 2016, to be there for his teammates, because he couldn’t be there in person.
Jimmy Butler is the friend you need next to you at the bar when you accidentally spill that drink on the guy who took an extra shot of steroids that morning. He’s the guy you want next to you when you start something you find out you can’t finish yourself. Jimmy’s never gonna ask who started it. Hell, he doesn’t even give a shit. He’s running over, under, and through the party to make sure he lays that first haymaker.
This is why Jimmy Butler was needed for this team’s future. This is why he will bring this team to levels it’s never been at. Jimmy Butler is the ULTIMATE teammate and that sort of selflessness is contagious.
As for the Timberwolves; another loss dropped them all the way to 6th in the Western Conference. With a grueling schedule coming up and with Butler likely out until the Playoffs, the rest of the team needs to channel their inner-Jimmy and make sure they pull out a 6th-seed or better so they don’t have a date with Golden State or Houston in the 1st round.
We need Towns and Wiggins to grow up VERY quickly while Taj, Jeff, Jamal take over the leadership roles, since they know what it takes to be a Playoff team.
Hang on Wolves’ fans. It’s gonna be a WILD ride to the finish line…
Eric Strack (Founder/Editor/Social Media)
Minnesota Sports Fan
MinnesotaSportsFan.com @RealMNSportsFan
More About:Minnesota Timberwolves
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