Jimmy Butler said Mark Wahlberg was responsible for his quality acting while attempting to sell a flop

• Jimmy Butler hilariously oversold a foul late in the fourth quarter against the Knicks.
• After falling to the ground, Butler peeked through his hands to see if his gambit had worked.
• Butler said he got his acting skills by studying Mark Wahlberg.

Jimmy Butler is a phenomenal basketball player and an aspiring coffee magnate, but on Tuesday night, the Heat superstar shared a third impressive skill in his arsenal: acting.

In the fourth quarter of a tightly contested game against the Knicks, Butler worked hard to sell a foul and earn his team a bit of breathing room.

With the Heat leading 97-96 and just seconds remaining in the game, a scramble for a loose ball left several players, Butler included, on the ground. As the rest of the players got up to prepare for a final possession, Butler writhed on the floor, hoping to draw some sympathy from the referees.

But between his moments of apparent pain, Butler could be seen peeking out to check to see if the officials had acknowledged his anguish.

—Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) February 10, 2021

Butler's gimmick didn't work. While he hoped to earn a flagrant foul, the call was instead a common foul, resulting in two shots from the line. Butler sunk one of the two free throws, and the Heat hung on to win the game 98-96.

After the game, Butler's teammate Bam Adebayo said the Heat could tell he was faking, but that the moment helped lighten the mood and keep the team loose.

"Everybody knew it-that's why we was all laughing," Adebayo said. "First of all, if Jimmy's really injured, he's not peeking. If Jimmy's really injured, everybody knows that he's getting up and trying to walk it off. The fact that he was down there for so long, just being Jimmy, I feel like that's one of those things over the course of the game that lightens the mood. Everybody gets a mental break from being serious for like 30 seconds, and we lock back in."

Butler also admitted to his acting when asked by reporters.

"I've studied Mark Wahlberg and how he acts so incredibly well," Butler told reporters. "I've taken a few pointers."

Butler name-dropping Wahlberg wasn't just him picking out an actor at random - the pair have been good friends since 2013.

A post shared by Jimmy Butler (@jimmybutler)

If Wahlberg shows up in a movie playing solid defense against the New York Knicks, we'll know who to credit.