NBA Finals: Miami Heat Not Underdogs Against Los Angeles Lakers, Jimmy Butler Says

Jimmy Butler believes the Miami Heat are not underdogs against the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.

Despite having to face a team bannered by two All-NBA First Team members, namely LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Butler is confident that the Heat can give the Lakers a run for their money.

"A really good team," Butler told reporters on Tuesday, per ESPN, of how he sees the Heat ahead of Game 1 set on Wednesday.

"That's it. A really good team," he continued. "Not going to say that we're any better than anybody else, but I just don't think that we're underdogs. I don't."

Not many believed Butler and the Heat would go deep into the playoffs, let alone reach the Finals.

Entering the postseason as the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, the cards were stacked against the Heat as they were placed on the same bracket as the Milwaukee Bucks – the best team in the NBA after the regular season.

But after sweeping the Indiana Pacers in the first round, the Heat put the league on notice as they defied the odds and took down the giants from Wisconsin. At that point, it seemed that the Heat had gained more trust within themselves. Rightly so, Erik Spoelstra and his boys would then finish off the Boston Celtics in six games in the conference finals.

But despite the impressive feat and a secured Finals berth, Miami has remained under the radar as James, Davis and the rest of the Lakers are predicted to have a cakewalk in the championship series. For Game 1 alone, the purple and gold is pegged as a 4.5-point favorite over the Heat, according to CBS Sports.

Butler, however, could not care less.

"So what that nobody picked us to be here? That's OK. Pretty sure nobody is picking us to win, either. That's OK. But we understand that. We embrace that, because, at the end of the day, we truly don't care,” the five-time All-Star said.

“We're just going to go out here and compete, play together like we always have, and I'm going to see where we end up," he added. "But at the end of the day we're going to do this our way, the Miami Heat way, and that way has worked for us all year long."