MIAMI — It had been awhile since anybody had defended Jimmy Butler the way Quentin Grimes had. Then, Playoff Jimmy got his revenge.
After Grimes smothered Butler and helped save the Knicks’ season in a Game 5 win at the Garden, he was utterly dominated by the Heat star on Friday in Miami’s 96-92 victory in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The Knicks guard had held the white-hot Butler to just 19 points in Game 5, by far his lowest output of the playoffs.
And in 94 possessions against Butler coming into Friday, Grimes had held him to just 16 points on 29.4 percent shooting and 0-for-3 from 3-point range.
But Butler erupted in Game 6, and Grimes — playing through a minor knee injury — was invisible on the offensive end as well.
Butler had 24 points and eight rebounds, sending the Knicks into the offseason.
“He was really aggressive,” Grimes told The Post. “I knew he came out and he was going to be really aggressive. I tried to make it tough as I can for him, but he was making the right play, hitting his teammates who were open when we doubled him and [Friday] he was making all the right plays.”
Butler has been as dominant as any player in this postseason. He came into Game 5 in the Garden averaging 33.5 points — the second-most in the playoffs — on 56.1 percent shooting with 6.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Grimes slowed him on Wednesday, but wasn’t even a speed bump two nights later.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks vs. Heat NBA playoff series
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- Knicks battle but fall in season-ending Game 6 loss to Heat
- Knicks couldn’t survive two minutes without Brunson
- Brunson’s heroic night spoiled by late turnover
“There’s Playoff Jimmy,” center Bam Adebayo said with a chuckle. “We know the type of mindset he gets into when he feels some sort of disrespect, or he feels like he isn’t being who he is. So the biggest thing for Jimmy is he’s going to come out in that mode. You might see a different type of him that we didn’t see in New York.”
Grimes insisted that his knee — which he injured by knocking knees with Adebayo — was fine.
But he also struggled on offense, Miami’s vaunted defense holding him to just three points on 1-for-6 shooting, all from outside the arc.
“They got a lot of guys who have experienced, they did the same things in the championship three years ago, [Kyle] Lowry’s got experience, Bam, Jimmy Butler,” Grimes said. “Experience is what makes everybody, so getting this under my belt is gonna be good for me.”