Jimmy Butler continues to show the Sixers why trading him to the Miami Heat was a mistake

Jimmy Butler keeps reminding the 76ers of what they had, ushered away, and would benefit from replacing.

It’s impossible to forget what Butler did to the Sixers in last season’s Eastern Conference semifinals. The Miami small forward’s stellar performance against them Monday night in the Heat’s 101-99 victory is yet another example of why they still miss him.

Win or lose, the Sixers (39-21) will be reminded of it again when the teams meet Wednesday night at Miami-Dade Arena. Just his sheer presence and bravado makes one wonder how successful the Sixers would be had they not traded him to the Heat on July 9, 2019.

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Butler has gone on to guide Miami to a 2020 NBA Finals appearance and last season’s Eastern Conference finals in his first three seasons in South Florida. The Sixers, however, were swept in the first round of the 2020 playoffs before suffering second-round exits the last two seasons.

And following last season’s second-round series, Butler was vocal about the huge mistake the Sixers made letting him go.

After scoring 32 points as the Heat eliminated the Sixers in Game 6, Butler had a strong message for his former team: “Tobias Harris over me?”

That actually wasn’t totally accurate. Some in the organization didn’t know how to take Butler’s personality. Harris was, however, a beneficiary, receiving an five-year, $180 million contract.

Four seasons after that decision, the Sixers can only hope to contain Butler better than they did Monday night.

He finished with team highs of 23 points, 11 rebounds (seven offensive), and nine assists along with a game-high four steals. Like he did during his lone season in Philly, Butler found a way to come through in the clutch.

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He gave the Heat a 100-99 lead on a spinning, in-the-air reverse layup with 1 minute, 28 seconds remaining. Then Butler grabbed the defensive rebound after Bam Adebayo blocked Joel Embiid’s shot with 29.4 seconds left. And he split a pair of foul shots to give Miami a 101-99 cushion with 8.8 seconds left.

Butler had his imprint on the game from the start, posting seven points, five assists, four rebounds, and one steal in the first quarter. He ended up making 9 of 14 shots. And in addition to his four steals, Butler had several deflections.

“I’m a gambler,” he said. “That just worked out [Monday], playing the passing lanes, being in the gaps, doing what I’m supposed to do, knowing that everybody else on the defensive end is going to cover for me whenever I do slip up. ... I just felt like everybody was in the passing line, I just ended up getting the ball and getting my hands on the ball.”

But there’s a perception that Butler gets amped up whenever he returns to the Center to face the Sixers. He said that wasn’t the case Monday, noting that it was just a battle of two good teams.

“I did my job,” said Butler, whose Heat (33-29) snapped a four-game skid. “We did our job. We got to start stringing these things together, though.

“We got them again in ... 48 hours. We want to do the same thing.”

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That includes the defensive job that Adebayo, a two-time All-Star center, and his backup, Cody Zeller, combined to do against Embiid. While the Sixers’ six-time All-Star had 27 points — making 10 of 17 shots — and 12 rebounds, they made him work. They blocked his shot a couple times and forced him into six turnovers.

“Joel is a tough cover for anybody,” Butler said. “So to block his shot, to attack him on the offensive end, you got to give it to him. MVP type player. He’s been doing it for a very long time. And to get some stop on that dude in crunch time, it’s big time.”

The Sixers can only imagine how hard it would have been to stop Embiid if Butler was still his teammate.