The "Heat" aren't dead yet. 

Behind Jimmy Butler's heroic performance, no hyperbole there, Jimmy ouched his ankle bad in game one; came back and played 44 minutos in game two, another "Heat" loss, and tonight, my oh my tonight. Jimmy Butler scored 40 of his team's 115 points, 35%, had 11 rebounds, 13 assists, a 3W, and played 45 of a possible 48 minutes in a "Heat" win by an impressive winning margin, 115-104, over LBJ's LAL. 

Is Jimmy Butler an elite NBA player? I have debated that with myself and with my son. Our consensus was that Jimmy was just below the absolute top nickel. But he has elite grit, "motor" as the Miami Culture calls it, and Jimmy Butler has found Home in Miami.This Culture creates and demands a gear that you didn't know existed, and one that you have. It's The Winner Within.

You can do a lot with drive. Pat Riley once said "Hard work guarantees you nothing but without it you don't have a chance." Talent will out is the subtext to Riley's maxim. The good can will themselves up to very good and the very good to great. Jimmy did that tonight. Bam Adebayo did it against Milwaukee. And sometimes those games are not just the one-offs that all players have. Sometimes they are break throughs. The fire within shows some players what they can be, rather than what they were once. My sense with Bam Adebayo's game, really his whole season, but especially that one game, was that Bam realized he has greatness as talent.  I do not have that same sense of Jimmy, not that this wasn't one of those breakthrough games for him as well, just that he is a veteran, on the other side of 30, and it is unlikely to acquire top-nickle greatness talent this late in a career. But you doubt Jimmy Butler? Eric Spoelstra? This team, this Culture? That wouldn't be having much sense at all.