http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/basketball/8498710.htm Posted on Fri, Apr. 23, 2004 NBA PLAYOFFS Butler quietly getting it done Heat forward Caron Butler is putting up solid numbers against the New Orleans Hornets in the playoffs, but sometimes even his own coach doesn't notice. BY ISRAEL GUTIERREZ [email protected] His impact, like his hands, is sometimes hard to see. Caron Butler can play 41 minutes, like he did in the Game 2 win against the New Orleans Hornets, and have a major impact no one really notices. Wednesday night, he even had his own coach deceived. "I looked and said, '18 points?' I had no idea," Stan Van Gundy said. "We're not running plays for him or anything else, but it seems to me that it just sort of always comes like that for him." In taking a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series against the Hornets, Butler has become the Heat's silent assassin. He's averaging 15 points, seven rebounds and four steals in the first two contests, but his efforts have gone largely unnoticed because of how he gets his numbers. For the second-year forward, it starts with his defense, his lightning-quick hands constantly disrupting the Hornets offense and occasionally igniting the Heat's fast break. Then the 6-7 Butler will sneak in and snatch a few rebounds that might seem insignificant but are crucial to a team with a severe height disadvantage. And when all that is working effectively, Butler will rack up some points in transition on offensive putbacks or by simply being at the right place at the right time on the offensive end. That approach has made Butler a stat-stuffer so far in his first playoff series, and it's a formula his coaches believe gives him the best chance at continued success. "Caron's whole deal, to me, is energy," Van Gundy said. "When his mind-set is to defend and rebound, it seems to me everything else with him takes care of itself. Every once in a while, even now, he'll have a game where I can watch the first five or six minutes and say, 'He's into shooting, he's into scoring.' Then not only does he not do the other things, but those things don't even work for him. "When his mind-set is into defending and rebounding and just playing with a lot of energy, his whole game just comes together and his scoring takes care of itself." Such was the case Wednesday, when Butler picked up nine rebounds and three steals, then somehow added 18 points his coach couldn't even remember him scoring. "I'm just a player," Butler said. "I'm a guy who doesn't need plays called for me. I just get it in the course of the game, and just work hard on the defensive and offensive end, and things just kind of go my way." GROWING UP Butler is displaying strengths now that he rarely did his rookie season. The area of his game that even his teammates have marveled at of late is his ability to get his hands on every ball within his reach. "Me and Dwyane [Wade] were talking on the bench about how fast his hands are," Lamar Odom said. "He's so strong. You can beat him to a spot, but he can reach down and bring the ball with him. He's a great anticipator. He does everything strong, fast and quick, too." Hornets players learned that quickly in Butler's five-steal Game 1, which he finished off with a deflection of Steve Smith's inbounds pass that allowed the final 1.3 seconds to tick harmlessly tick off the clock. "If the ball hits one [of Butler's hands], it's kind of like it's hitting a mitt," assistant coach Keith Askins said. "It's there, and it's gone." If Butler is playing that kind of disruptive defense, it's a safe bet that he is attacking the glass as well. Defense and rebounding seem to go hand in hand for Butler these days. In his past 11 games, including the first two playoff contests, Butler is averaging 8.2 rebounds and 1.7 steals. REBOUNDING IS KEY Van Gundy said rebounding is the most telling statistic when it comes to assessing Butler's impact. "The one stat with him that I look for on the boxscore every night is his rebounding," Van Gundy said. "Last year, even with the great rookie year and people talking about him, he was last in the league in rebounds per minute for [starting] small forwards. Now, from the halfway point in this season, he's been one of the best defensive rebounding small forwards in the league. "When he's getting in there battling on the boards, especially as small as we are, it makes a tremendous difference." NOT A SHY GUY Butler has never been one to shy away from attention, so playing the silent contributor role doesn't necessarily fit his personality. But he recognizes his value in that role, so Butler now picks his spots to come up with those spectacular, look-at-me moments. That usually comes in the fast break, like Wednesday when he trailed Wade in a three-on-one break and was rewarded with an over-the-shoulder pass from Wade for an uncontested dunk. "I just thought that would be a great opportunity to reward him, because he always follows me on the break," Wade said. "He calls my name. Now I know every time I'm out, he's out with me." --

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