Wins have allowed Miami Heat's Jimmy Butler to overlook shooting struggles

Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler is shooting just 24 percent from the 3-point line

Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler would have some concerns if the wins weren't piling.

Butler is shooting just 24 percent from the 3-point line. It is his lowest percentage since his rookie season.

With that said, Butler is fine with his shooting long as the Heat keep playing well. They enter the NBA restart at 41-24 and the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.

"I'm just fine with how my game was," Butler said. "I feel like it could be better as a whole. Like I always say, as long as we're winning games nobody is really paying attention to that. If we win a championship this year, I guarantee y'all won't talk about how bad I've been shooting the basketball."

Butler has made only 29 3-pointers this season. Part of the reason is the emergence of the Heat's young players, mainly Duncan Robinson. He has already set the Heat's single-season record for makes. Butler has said all season he does not focus on individual statistics. His job is always to make his teammates better.

Still, as SI.com's Michael Shapiro noted earlier this month in his list of top 25 players in the bubble, the knock on Butler is his inconsistent jumper.

"Teams are sagging off him as though this extended cold stretch is more than a fluke," Shapiro wrote. "Butler will need to find his three-point stroke for Miami to make noise in the Eastern Conference playoffs."

The Heat can live with Butler's struggles if Robinson and Tyler Herro continue to shoot well from the arc. If they have difficulty in their first postseason, which is possible, then Butler will have to improve.  

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