A look at something Jimmy Butler almost never does, but has delivered for Heat lately

Jimmy Butler does a lot of things on the basketball court at a high level for the Miami Heat, but taking and making three-pointers is not one of them.

Butler, 33, entered Wednesday night’s matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies at Miami-Dade Arena shooting 33.7 percent on 1.7 three-point attempts per game this season. He shot just 23.3 percent on two three-point attempts per game last regular season and is shooting 26.1 percent on 1.9 three-pointers per game in his four seasons with the Heat.

So Utah Jazz forward Kelly Olynyk was just following the scouting report when he sagged off Butler near the three-point line to guard against a possible drive or screen with Heat center Bam Adebayo lurking nearby late in Monday’s game. Instead, Butler took advantage of the space Olynyk gave him to make only his third fourth-quarter three of the season with 3:34 to play to help push the Heat to a 119-115 home win.

“You can’t do your normal coverage with Jimmy,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I guess I’m not giving a trade secret right now. He’s very similar to Dwyane [Wade]. Percentages go out the window, if you’re going to give him an open shot to go for a kill. Those guys are killers, they’re going to make you pay for that. That has nothing to do with percentages. That has to do with competitive will.”

The numbers say Butler’s three-point percentage isn’t good even late in close games, as Monday’s three-pointer marked just the third three he has made in a one-possession regular-season game during the final five minutes of the fourth quarter since joining the Heat in the summer of 2019. He has actually made two of those three threes in the last few days after also hitting a contested double-pump game-tying three-pointer as the fourth-quarter buzzer sounded to send Saturday’s contest in Orlando into overtime before the Heat eventually lost to the Magic.

Butler is only 3 of 25 (12 percent) from beyond the arc in this situation during the regular season as a member of the Heat. He’s 3 of 9 (33.3 percent) on threes in this situation during the playoffs since joining Miami.

Those percentages are why the play coming out of the timeout immediately before Butler’s clutch three on Monday was actually drawn up to be a two-man action between Butler and Adebayo to generate a look closer to the basket. But once Olynyk gave him space, Butler decided to improvise and took the three-pointer.

“We don’t do it very often,” Spoelstra said. “But when he shoots that shot, he feels like he can compete against our stickers when we’re doing shooting drills. It’s a very good shot for him. He does have to shoot enough of those to keep defenses honest if they’re going to back way off.”

Heat teammates and coaches have pushed Butler to take more threes when he’s left open, but they apparently haven’t been persuasive enough. A career-low 10 percent of Butler’s shot attempts (excluding heaves) have been from behind the three-point line this season, which is in the NBA’s first percentile among forwards.

Most of Butler’s shot attempts come much closer to the basket. He’s in the NBA’s 83rd percentile in percentage of shot attempts at the rim and 92nd percentile for midrange attempts among forwards while also drawing 5.7 fouls per game (ranked 15th most in the league) to take 8.6 free throws per game (ranked seventh-most in the NBA) this season.

“He does tell me to shoot more threes,” Butler said of Spoelstra. “But I just feel like if I start shooting too many threes, then there’s not enough paint attacks. But I can shoot more threes. I don’t want to. I want to play bully ball. I want to run in there, run into people. I like a physical game. But every now and again, I’ll take and make some threes.”

That approach is what makes Butler (6-7, 230 pounds) such a unique player to guard. He’s one of only three players in the league who stand no taller than 6-foot-7 and are averaging more than 20 points per game while attempting fewer than two threes per game this season along with New Orleans’ Zion Williamson and Chicago’s DeMar DeRozan.

“I think Jimmy’s footwork when he has the ball in that two-point range is one of the best in the league,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “One of the premier players at using shot fakes, too. He just tests your discipline on every possession. It’s for sure a different mindset that you’re trying to give your team when you go into a game. It’s not about guarding him at 30 feet on the court. It’s about when the court gets small, can you be disciplined and do little things over and over again because you can do it two, three, four possessions in a row and Jimmy is going to keep testing your discipline.”

But sometimes, like on Monday, Butler can make opponents pay if they give him an open three. It just doesn’t happen often.

INJURY REPORT

The Heat ruled out Jamal Cain (G League), Nikola Jovic (G League), Orlando Robinson (G League) and Cody Zeller (broken nose) for Wednesday’s game against the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies are without Steven Adams (knee PCL sprain), Brandon Clarke (Achilles tear), Jake LaRavia (back soreness), Ja Morant (league suspension) and Vince Williams Jr. (shoulder soreness).