“He got that grit” - Charles Barkley would rather go to war with Jimmy Butler over Jayson Tatum in a must-win NBA game

Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat are hoping to eliminate Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Miami won the first three games before Boston grabbed the next two to set up what is expected to be another all-out war on Saturday.

Charles Barkley, on 'The Dan Patrick Show', had this to say about who he preferred between the two superstars to lead his team:

(3:58 mark)

“Jimmy Butler. I know he gonna give it to me. He’s tough. He got that grit. Jayson Tatum is probably the better player. But if you ask me who I’m gonna go in the foxhole with it’s gonna be Jimmy Butler. There’s a lot of guys who are great players but I don’t wanna go in the foxhole with that guy.”

Jimmy Butler’s best series came against the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks where he averaged 37.6 points on 59.7% shooting. He added 6.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists while eliminating the top-seeded Bucks in just five games.

“Jimmy Buckets” wasn't as prolific in the semi-finals against the New York Knicks. He was dealing with a sprained ankle and averaged 24.6 PPG while hitting 43.2% of his shots.

Butler has led the eighth-ranked Miami Heat to the Conference finals, just the second team to do that after the 1999 New York Knicks. Miami has been punching more than its weight largely due to the former Marquette star.

Jayson Tatum, on the other hand, has been frustratingly underwhelming at times. He looked nothing like the All-NBA forward that caused defenses problems in the regular season in the Celtics’ first three conference finals games.

When Tatum is engaged, he is arguably the more talented and better-skilled player than Jimmy Butler. He showed it in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 when he erupted for a playoff-record 51 points.

Tatum shrugged off critics starting Game 4 of the Celtics-Heat series. “JT” was directly responsible for 40 of Boston’s 66 second-half points. He continued his scorching-hot form in the first quarter of Game 5 when he scored 12 points in 10 minutes.

Tatum’s defense and playmaking have also been elite in the last two games. It was not a coincidence the Celtics won when the former Duke superstar played his usual brand of basketball.

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Jimmy Butler and Jayson Tatum will be the main attractions again in Game 6

After back-to-back losses, Jimmy Butler’s confidence was unshakeable heading into Game 6.

He said:

“We just gotta play better, start the game better, make it more difficult for them. They are in rhythm since the beginning of the game. We’re always going to stay positive knowing that we can and we will win this series. We’ll just have to close it out at home.”

Butler so demoralized the Boston Celtics until Game 3 that they refused to talk trash to him even if goaded. Boston will likely not add more fuel to Butler’s raging fire as they look to tie the series and force a deciding Game 7.

Jayson Tatum, on the other hand, had a more even-keeled, cerebral evaluation of the last two games as the series moves on:

“For some odd reason, even last year, we always seem to make it tough on ourselves. You can see the true character of a person, of a team when things aren’t going well. … We’ve got a room full of determined, tough guys that go down fighting if things don’t work out."

When it comes to must-win situations, Tatum has been special. Boston is 4-0 in those situations. He is averaging 31.0 PPG, 10.2 RPG and 7.2 APG with 50/40/80 shooting splits.

Charles Barkley and the basketball world can’t wait for Jimmy Butler and Jayson Tatum to take on each other in Game 6 on Saturday.

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