Butler out again; what he’s saying about toe. And what Love is doing to beat ‘Father Time’
Heat star Jimmy Butler will miss Wednesday’s home game against Oklahoma City, his fifth consecutive game sidelined with a toe injury. But Butler said he will return “soon.”
Speaking publicly for the first time since sustaining the injury in a Dec. 30 game at Utah, Butler said the injury happened when “I just stepped wrong. It’s like the mid foot area. I [initially] thought it was way worse than it really was. I was scared for a much larger reason because of a bruise or the bone. So glad it wasn’t [that].”
Butler said: “It’s getting better. I’m moving a little bit better. Still have a couple more days obviously so we can get tolerable pain in it and I’ll be ready to go.”
Butler had miss four games with a calf injury before returning for the Utah game; he played 23 minutes against the Jazz before leaving with an injury that is being called a right toe MP joint sprain. Are the injuries related?
“I don’t know,” he said. “The trainers may think so. I don’t believe in luck all the time. Stuff happens. We’re doing everything we can to get me back on the floor. I’m moving better. I can break a little sweat.”
Asked if the injury is turf toe, Butler said: “I don’t think it’s turf toe because I’ve had turf toe before on this foot, in my Chicago days. It’s not that.”
The pain, initially, was excruciating but has improved since. “It was bad,” he said. “It’s not nearly as bad now. I can put my shoe on and tie it without too much pain. I’m smiling because I’ll be back soon.”
Butler has missed 12 of the Heat’s 36 games. If he misses 18 games, he won’t qualify for any All NBA teams under new league rules requiring participation in at least 65 games.
Asked if he cares about that, Butler said: “What you think? You think I’m worried about some reward? The only reward I give a damn about is those banners over there. That’s all I told Spo [Erik Spoelstra], I told Pat [Riley]... I’m going to help us get” that.
From the sidelines, Butler has appreciated the growth of young players Jaime Jaquez and Nikola Jovic. “I knew that would happen,” Butler said. “They are going to help this organization a long time after I’m gone. It’s good everyone in the world can see what these young guys are capable of.”
Meanwhile, point guard Kyle Lowry (sprained hand) and forward Caleb Martin (ankle) are both listed as doubtful for Wednesday’s game. Neither player was at practice on Tuesday because they were sick.
LOVE THRIVING
Not only are Kevin Love’s numbers up in every area since his first four months with the Heat last season, but he has scored in double figures in five consecutive games for the first time since April 2022.
Love, 35, said he has found ways to compensate for what age has done to his athleticism.
“I was a lot more athletic when I came into the league,” he said. “You lose some of that verticality, especially with getting up there and jumping, so I find different tools to try to beat Father Time.”
How has he done it?
“Probably strength, footwork, passing,” Love said. “I was talking two nights ago to Jimmy, Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson about how my game has gone so much to the perimeter. The game has changed so much. When I came in the league in 2008, the games were played into the 90s, break 100 half the time maybe.
“In Cleveland, they wanted me to play on the perimeter, which was different for me. That’s where my game has translated and been able to keep up with this space and pace kind of league and small ball. For me, it’s circling the perimeter, dumping it into Jimmy, Jaime, Bam and letting them play and spacing it out.”
Love - who has come off the bench in 24 of his 29 games this season - is playing a smidgen less than he did during his 21-game regular season stint with the Heat last season (19.2 minutes, compared with 20 last year).
But his numbers are up in every area - points from 7.7 to 10.2, rebounds from 5.7 to 6.9, assists from 1.9 to 2.7, shooting percentage from 38.8 to 45.4 and three-point percentage from 29.7 to 35.7.
“He’s just so skilled,” Herro said. “I joke with him, he was [Denver star Nikola] Jokic before Jokic. Just to be able to throw a guy like that the ball and he’s so strong, where a guy too small is too small for him. And then if you can switch a quicker guy or somebody that can maybe bang with him inside, he’s able to make the right play and pass…
“He just brings so much to the table offensively. Everybody is closing out to his threes and he’s able to drive and get into the paint and make plays for guys.”
Defensively, Love is holding the player he’s guarding to 47.7 percent shooting, compared to the 50.3 percent that those players shoot overall. After he joined the Heat last season, the player he guarded shot 52.8 percent, per the NBA’s tracking data.
“He has so much experience,... at a super high level of what it takes to win,” Erik Spoelstra said. “I mentioned that when we were on the road trip, I just feel like you need guys like him, veteran guys like that who have relevant experience. You need those kinds of guys to compete for championships. He used to be a guy, so at any moment during a game he can get you six, eight points in a quarter, double-digits in a quarter.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2024 at 1:45 PM.
