Lip readers are debating what Jimmy Butler actually said to Jrue Holiday during heated exchange
Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat defeated the Milwaukee Bucks to advance to the second round of the NBA postseason.
Milwaukee had a 16-point fourth-quarter lead, but some late-game heroics by Butler led to Milwaukee’s unexpected elimination. Butler scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, which led to a back-and-forth exchange with Bucks guard Jrue Holiday.
Some fans on Twitter initially speculated that Butler told Holiday “I own you!” during the fourth-quarter comeback. That theory picked up some steam and circulated around some big accounts.
Here is a full clip where you can see a bit of the tense exchange:
Here’s Jimmy Butler telling Holiday “I OWN YOU”
While the Heat trail with 2 mins left.
Absolute MADMAN pic.twitter.com/7rrEy0OMiK
— ???????????????? ???????????????????????? (@HeatvsHaters) April 27, 2023
That isn’t the only theory, though.
Other lip readers believe it is more likely that Butler said something about scoring “on his head” to indicate Holiday was not able to defend him.
That would be some tremendous trash talk, especially considering according to a survey by The Athletic, Holiday was recently voted by fellow players as the league’s best defender and the most underrated player in the NBA.
Let’s be honest: Who wouldn’t want to score more than 40 points on the head of someone who other pros believe is the best defender in the league?
Jimmy Butler was TALKING to Jrue Holiday last night even when they were down
Must’ve said “on his head” 50 times in the 4th lol
Then after saying it this time
Here’s what he did the very next play: pic.twitter.com/w8kHSI7KDl
— Brady Hawk (@BradyHawk305) April 27, 2023
Butler scored a total of 66 points when Holiday was credited as the nearest defender during the playoffs, per tracking data provided by NBA.com.
It was one of the most dominant performances any offensive player has had guarded by Holiday.
I’ve never seen someone cook Jrue Holiday the way Jimmy Butler has this series
— Silas P. Silas (@KennySpenceNBA) April 27, 2023
He scored an additional 31 points on Holiday during the regular season, which was the most the Miami star scored against any single player.
For what it is worth: When also including postseason data dating back to the 2018-19 season, Butler has made more field goals when defended by Holiday (48) than any other player in the NBA.
In fairness to Holiday, however, the four-time All-Defensive guard has held Butler to fewer points per 100 possessions (22.8) than Butler’s average (30.9) against all other players during that span.
“On your head.”
He was likely pointing to his stats on the jumbotron too.
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) April 27, 2023
But that still doesn’t have an answer: Did Butler actually say “I own you!” or “on your head!” when talking trash?
Fortunately, we aren’t the only ones who were curious about this debate.
You can sort of hear Butler say “on your head” in the clip shared above by Rob Perez. But there is plenty more we can learn in his full breakdown:
Here is the full exchange between Jrue Holiday and Jimmy Butler at the end of the fourth quarter transcribed.
https://t.co/NTsdT1frD1 pic.twitter.com/qizkTDWNnD
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) April 27, 2023
While it is impossible to say exactly what happened next, Perez believes Holiday then said, “It’s always open. Start playing and say something.”
According to Perez, meanwhile, Butler then pointed to the scoreboard and said “I got 38! On your head!”
While most of Holiday’s subsequent responses were indecipherable, Butler may have called him “broke” at the end of the exchange as well.
All this tells us, though, is that we need more mic ‘d-up exchanges during heated moments in sports so we can verify exactly what happened instead of wildly speculating.