Jimmy Butler’s magnanimous presence in the locker room is unmistakable. He walks around singing loudly along to songs, taking his personal portable speaker to the showers and barely missing a lyric while he courts a lighthearted debate with Mike Scott and Jonathon Simmons — a debate drowned out by Butler’s country music.
There has been a lot written, said and assumed about how Butler fits with the Philadelphia 76ers and what happens beyond this season, but as coach Brett Brown said after their 108-104 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Butler was the one trying to bring everything together.china nike nfl jerseys cheap
“There was an unselfishness,” Brown said. “I think that connects the dots to so many things. It’s a very unselfish group, and I thought Jimmy Butler tonight, especially, went way out of his way to live by that standard we’ve set. He was our bell ringer tonight.”
The Process methodically, incrementally, painstakingly built the 76ers, but this group has sort of been assembled on the fly this season. Butler’s addition was the first significant shake-up, but following that with adding Tobias Harris right before the trade deadline is the big swing. And without Joel Embiid, the Sixers leaned on Butler’s playmaking (20 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists) and Harris’ scoring (32 points on 11-of-19 shooting). After the Thunder tied the game 93-93 with with 4 minutes, 40 seconds left, Harris went on an 8-0 run by himself as the Sixers took control.
“Take the shots you’re comfortable making, and he made ’em,” Butler said of Harris. “We want him to continue to be that player for us, and he’s going to win us a lot of games.”cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale
The win broke a 19-game losing streak to the Thunder. It was the Sixers’ first win against OKC since Nov. 15, 2008, and only the second ever against the team since it relocated to Oklahoma City. Looking around the Sixers’ locker room, the longest tenured player is T.J. McConnell, but he has been with the team since only 2015, part of seven of those losses. How different were things on that November day in 2008? The teams took 21 3-pointers
