Jimmy Butler upset with Fred Hoiberg for sitting him to start 4th quarter
The Chicago Bulls have played poorly in the fourth quarter of several games this season, and that trend continued Wednesday night in a loss to the Boston Celtics. Jimmy Butler believes things would have gone differently if he wasn’t sitting on the bench at the start of the final 12 minutes.
With the score tied at 75, the Celtics began the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run. Butler told Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg he should have been in the game.
“I told Fred not to take me out at the beginning of the fourth,” he said, via Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. “I wanted to play because that’s when we give up those leads, at the beginning of the fourth. Nothing against my teammates, but I think if I’m out there and I get their energy going the right way, now take me out and let me rest. But the energy’s going, the energy’s flowing. I think I got to start playing at the beginning of the fourth quarter.”
Butler, who scored a career-high 36 points, said Hoiberg insisted he needed some rest.
“[He said] I need a rest,” Butler said. “I’m like, ‘Man, I can handle an extra 45 seconds to a minute. Just let me get the energy going, get a stop here or there, and get us going in the right direction to start the fourth.'”
Butler scored 17 of his 36 points in the game’s final six minutes or so. As Eric Freeman of Ball Don’t Lie mentioned, you can’t rule out the possibility of the two minutes he sat to start the fourth keeping him fresh.
The Bulls have now lost three straight games.
“It’s a learning curve for (Hoiberg) just like it is for me,” Butler said. “I understand what he’s trying to do, I’m not mad at him for that, but we got to win games if we want to find ourselves in the postseason.”
Butler has tried to be more vocal this season, and we saw another example of that when he called out his teammates with these comments a few weeks ago. But he should probably tread lightly with calling out his first-year coach publicly — especially this early in the season. Growing pains are to be expected.
