Jimmy Butler Proved It Is Possible To Get Your Leg Grabbed And Not Immediately Stomp On Someone's Chest In Retaliation

John Fisher. Getty Images.

There are a couple of ways to look at the Heat/Bucks series through 2 games.

1. The Heat did what they were supposed to do and split the first 2 games, and now are in a good spot with homecourt for the series

2. None that matters.

Given the fact that the Bucks came out and won Game 2 by a billion without Giannis playing, it was a nice reminder of why you can't really overreact to Game 1s. The Heat already didn't have enough offensively even with a full roster, so if you then take away their 2nd best offensive player and shot creator, they definitely don't have enough. My guess is Giannis will be back for Game 3 and this thing will be wrapped up shortly. Playoff Jimmy Butler can do a lot, but I'm not sure he can beat the Bucks 3 more times with no real consistent offensive help.

So my biggest takeaway from this game doesn't really have anything to do with the score or the matchup. It's this play right here

First of all, I think everyone can agree that regardless of who your favorite team is, guys cannot be grabbing an opposing player's legs like we're seeing right now. Since when did this become all the rage? Sabonis had a death grip on Draymond's leg, and even if you wanted to go with the "he was bracing himself" route, he still had a full on grip on his leg, which is dangerous. Jae Crowder here, I mean what is that? That's fucked up is what it is. There's no bracing himself for a fall or anything like that, he legit went out and grabbed/pulled down on Butler's leg as he was trying to go back up after a rebound. That is extremely dangerous as well. What is with the Bucks players repeatedly doing shit like this? Very weird

Second of all, what also stood out to me was how Butler reacted. You see, I was told that when you get your leg grabbed, the only physical option you have in that situation is to stomp on someone's chest. Sorry, the players hands are tied when that happens, there's no other way to react. That's what the Warriors and their fans wanted you to believe for the last 24-48 hours. It's quite the spinzone.

While these plays aren't the exact same in the sense that Butler wasn't standing over Jae, he could have stomped on his chest after the play the same way Draymond did. I know people wanted to make it seem like Draymond was "running full speed", but again, that is not what happened. 

On some level it is a little funny that another leg grab play by the basket happened immediately after the Draymond play and the results were entirely different. You didn't see Jimmy stomp on Jae's chest. You didn't see him go to the bench and antagonize the crowd. He just…moved on. See, it is totally possible!

But seriously, stop grabbing player's legs. That shit is weak as hell, especially when you clearly do it intentionally. Potentially causing injury like that at this point of the year, on purpose, is very weak. That goes for Sabonis, Crowder, or anyone else we see grab the leg of a player at any time during a game. If you disagree with that, I dunno what to tell you.