APRIL 18, 3:46pm: Butler has been diagnosed with an MCL sprain and won’t be available for Friday’s play-in game, according to Heat PR (Twitter link). As was reported this morning, he’s expected to be out multiple weeks, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Rozier has also been ruled out for Friday’s play-in game with his neck injury.
APRIL 18, 8:15am: There’s now an expectation that Butler will be out for multiple weeks, according to Charania (Twitter link). That means he’d likely miss some or all of the first round of the playoffs even if Miami wins on Friday.
APRIL 17: There are concerns that Heat forward Jimmy Butler may have suffered an MCL injury in his right knee, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Butler told reporters after tonight’s play-in loss at Philadelphia that he plans to undergo an MRI on Thursday morning to learn the extent of the damage, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Butler had a protective sleeve on the knee after the game and said he was having difficulty moving.
The initial diagnosis is a knee sprain, but the MRI will provide more clarity, Chiang adds (Twitter link). Butler needed help walking as he left the arena after tonight’s game (video link from Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports).
Butler played nearly 40 minutes and contributed 19 points, four rebounds, five assists and five steals in Miami’s 105-104 loss, though he shot just 5-of-18 from the field. The Heat will host Chicago in an elimination game Friday night, and Butler’s status appears to be in doubt regardless of the MRI results.
When asked about his knee, Butler responded, “It had me feeling that I couldn’t do too much,” tweets Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel.
Butler fell to the court and grabbed his knee in pain late in the first quarter, Chiang writes in a full story. After Kelly Oubre jumped on a pump fake, he landed on Butler and they both crashed to the floor. Butler remained down for a few minutes and limped to Miami’s bench. He was able to stay in the game, but he continued to limp and occasionally grabbed at the knee.
Although Friday’s contest will be at home, the Heat face a difficult path with the potential of an extended absence for Butler combined with the loss of Terry Rozier, who is sidelined with neck spasms. Friday’s winner will face the top-seeded Celtics in a series that starts Sunday afternoon.
How many additional injuries have we seen due to the play in.? Just go back to 1-8.
Would you have rather seen Butler injured in the first round and been swept ?
The players who got injured get injured when someone sneezes at a regular season game as well…
Probably just cancel the last couple weeks of the regular season too while we’re at it. Giannis was injured and missed the last few games, Lillard is now hurt as well.
Wait, eliminate the regular season altogether and have ESPN run all their simulations to determine playoff teams. Use those for playoffs too, to prevent players, refs or Vegas from fixing the outcomes in any way (oh yeah, and nobody will get injured then either..).
Cancel the whole season and just do a lottery to see which teams play in the Finals. Then do a coin flip for the first four games of the series to determine a winner. They can actually play Games 5 through 7. Then NBA fans can get the fully healthy 1-3 games a year that they crave.
Spo might have to play Jovic more than 14 minutes next game – despite his confusing resistance to it
Bulls vs Heat,
Coby White was looking fantastic tonight as was Vuce and then you’ve got DeRozan to worry about aswell. Miami without Butler and Rozier is a very tough ask.
It means we likely wont get Miami vs Boston which would’ve been a good series but instead Chicago likely makes it past Miami and then gets swept by Boston.
First Zion and now Butler…?
I’m shocked, shocked!… Well maybe not that shocked…
The play Butler got hurt shouldn’t have been called a foul. He clearly traveled before he was fouled.
What a difference a half can make. I’m not a fan of the play-in, but I do like the double/single elimination format it employs. I’d like to see them use it higher up in the food chain, at least until the Conf Semi’s. 3 rounds of 7 game series’ would be plenty.
Sucks, HEAT can still win over the BULLS though.
How exciting.
Boston lucked out. Philly gets NY and Boston gets either Miami without Butler or The Bulls, Then the winner of Cleveland-Orlando. They won’t be tested until The conference finals, if that.
lucked all the way to the #1 overall seed only to face trash and compromised teams early.
Cavs are not a given. I expect a 7gm series. Anything can happen then.
No.
Heat aren’t beating Bulls without Jimmy. It’s too bad really. JB one of my favs. Get well !!
Bulls get a break. Now they get a chance to prove their worth against Celtics. Best team in NBA.
You saw Embiid huffing and puffing. He is not ready for a tough 7 gm series. So we’ll send you home early ……. we got you.
I never try and look ahead. You take care of business as you go. Bucks might not beat Pacers without Giannis. So Knicks need to take care of business. This can be a nice run. Considering all the injuries we had. This is starting to look good. Wish Randle was here. He would make it real interesting.
Sixers on Saturday ……. let’s do this.
Alexa…play “This is the End’ by The Doors.
Good call. We played it earlier in the week.
It started in Chicago, in 2010, when my dad became an assistant coach for the Bulls. That’s when I first really understood the type of man and the kind of coach Thibs was. I knew, as a high schooler, that he was a coach who really wanted to win and did whatever it took to do that. And he knew none of that happened without sacrifices — from him, from the players, from everyone down the roster. That showed me the standard early on.
When coach and star are on same page. Knicks are a real team. Jalen is just like Thibs. It’s all about playing. And finding a way to win. Knicks are deep. And can play both ways.
Sixers opened as favorites. ????
Waaaaaaaaaaaattttt
Same injury Steph played through the 2016 finals