NBA
Why isn’t Jimmy Butler playing in the Play-in tournament game against the Bulls?
The South Florida team announced that the six-time NBA All-Star forward will miss the Play-In game against Chicago due to a knee injury.
The Miami Heat have announced that Jimmy Butler will miss the Play-In Tournament game against the Chicago Bulls after suffering a sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during the loss against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Butler is expected to be out of action for some time with ESPN and The Athletic claiming that the six-time NBA All-Star will be out for several weeks. As things stand, should the Heat progress to the postseason it looks highly unlikely that the forward will be fit enough to face the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.
The injury occurred during the first quarter of the game against the 76ers as Butler faked a shot while Kelly Oubre Jr. jumped on him and the 76ers forward fell on the Heat player’s right knee. Despite the injury, Butler played on for a further 40 minutes and scored 19 points in the process making five of the 18 shots he attempted, in addition to five steals and five assists.
How will Jimmy Butler's absence affect the Play-In?
Butler was Miami’s leading scorer during the regular season, scoring 20.8 points in eight games. In addition, his work as a point-forward will be sorely missed because the Heat will also be missing Terry Rozier. The 34-year-old recorded 5.0 assists during the regular season against just 1.7 turnovers and is suffering with a neck problem.
Erik Spoelstra will have to call upon the likes of Jaime Jáquez Jr. and Nikola Jovic with Basketball Reference claiming that the quintet made up of Jáquez, Jovic, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry played 55:11 minutes during the regular season with a point differential per 100 possessions of +0.8.