The Miami Heat have tasted defeat for just the second time this postseason, falling 117-106 to the Boston Celtics in Game 3 on Saturday.
Miami hasn't faced much adversity en route to the Eastern Conference final, and star forward Jimmy Butler believes his team's response in the next contest will say a lot about their character.
"We didn't play hard enough. Or do anything we set out to do. Now, we'll really see what we are made of," Butler said postgame, according to Yahoo Sports' Keith Smith.
The Heat got off to another sluggish start in Game 3 while Boston hit the ground running. The Celtics led 31-22 after the first quarter and were up by as many as 20 points.
Miami could not complete a second-half comeback, unlike the previous two matchups. Butler knows his team is capable of producing much better performances.
"We knew how they were going to attack us. We weren't helping each other. We weren't making an extra pass a lot of the times," Butler said, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell.
"We have to play basketball the way we have been playing the games that we have been winning. We understand that. There's nothing that coach (Spoelstra) can say. There's nothing that OG (Udonis Haslem) can say. We get it. We have to be the ones to fix that."
Miami holds a 2-1 series lead heading into Wednesday's pivotal Game 4 matchup.
