A look at Jimmy Butler’s ‘phenomenal’ return and what it could mean for Heat moving forward
The Miami Heat has managed to win eight of the last 11 games that star Jimmy Butler has missed. But after missing most of the last four weeks because of injuries, Butler didn’t waste any time in providing a reminder of why he’s still considered one of the best players in the NBA.
After missing the previous seven games because of a foot injury that the Heat listed as a “right toe MP joint sprain,” Butler made his return in the Heat’s 96-95 overtime road win over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night. With Butler also missing four straight games in late December because of a strained left calf, he missed 11 of the previous 12 games before playing against the Nets.
Butler looked far from limited or rusty on Monday, finishing his first game back with 31 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 15-of-16 shooting from the foul line, five rebounds, four assists and two steals while logging a season-high 40 minutes for one of his best stat lines of the season. He shot 7 of 10 from inside the paint, including 6 of 7 at the rim.
“It was phenomenal,” Spoelstra said when asked about Butler’s return, with the Heat now set to close its quick two-game trip on Wednesday against the Raptors in Toronto (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun). “You don’t ever forget about his greatness. The fact that he can score 31 on 12 shots, that’s a misprint. And that should be studied by every young player coming into the league, where you don’t just need to be a chucker, you don’t need to be a volume shooter to be able to score 30. You can do it efficiently if you take the right shots and you find the different gaps and weaknesses with your IQ, and that’s what he did tonight.”
Butler, 34, is just the fifth player around the league to score 30 or more points on 12 or fewer field-goal attempts this season, joining New Orleans’ Zion Williamson, Los Angeles’ LeBron James, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston’s Jayson Tatum as the only ones to accomplish that feat this season.
But Spoelstra admits that he “played [Butler] more minutes than we all planned on” with the game needing overtime to be decided. Monday marked the first regular-season game that Butler has played 40 or more minutes in since logging 42 minutes in an overtime win over the Charlotte Hornets on Nov. 10, 2022.
“I got to be ready,” Butler said. “I think I did enough running and conditioning to be able to come back and play 40. So whatever was needed, you got to do.”
The hope is the Heat’s leading trio of Bam Adebayo, Butler and Tyler Herro will now remain healthy to finally go through a sustained stretch of playing together.
Because of the Heat’s season-long injury problem, Monday was just the ninth game that Adebayo, Butler and Herro have played together through the first 40 games this season. It’s only the seventh game they’ve been able to finish together, with Herro leaving one of the nine games early and Butler leaving another one of the nine games early.
“We need time together, especially leading up into All-Star break before we get to the playoffs,” Herro said. “But it’s all part of an NBA season. We would like to get everyone healthy, but there’s no guarantees. Whoever is on the court, we just got to bring what we can and try to stack Ws.”
In their limited time on the court, the Heat has outscored opponents by six points per 100 possessions in the 179 minutes that Adebayo, Butler and Herro have played together this season. This trio dominated in Monday’s win, with the Heat outscoring the Nets by 16.6 points per 100 possessions in their 27 minutes together.
Adebayo, Butler and Herro combined for 71 of the Heat’s 96 points in Monday’s win.
“I feel like this is a great stretch for us just to get back to the big three, playing with the three guys,” Adebayo said. “And also everybody figuring out spacing and how we can keep going with this thing.”
It’s also a great stretch for Butler to start playing like the All-NBA version of himself again.
Prior to returning from injury on Monday, Butler was averaging 21 points, five rebounds, 4.5 assists and one steal per game while shooting 46.4 percent from the field. Those numbers and his efficiency around the rim are down across the board compared to last season, when Butler turned in one of the best seasons of his NBA career with 22.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 53.9 percent from the field before elevating his game to an even higher level in the playoffs to lead the Heat to the NBA Finals.
But Butler returned to produce his highest game score (a formula created to give a rough measure of a player’s productivity for a single game) of the season in Monday’s overtime victory at 30.7. That’s a game score he exceeded just nine times last regular season and two times during last year’s playoffs.
“I got my rhythm as I was coming back,” Butler said after his first game action since hurting his foot in a Dec. 30 loss to the Utah Jazz. “Guys were looking for me, getting out in the open court. More than anything, man, I’m just glad we won. That’s all that matters.”
The Heat (24-16) now stands eight games above .500 for the first time this season, as it looks to make a run up the Eastern Conference standings in the coming weeks with Adebayo, Butler and Herro finally playing together again.
INJURY REPORT
The Heat ruled out Jamal Cain (G League), RJ Hampton (G League), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (strained left groin), Kevin Love (left knee contusion) and Dru Smith (season-ending knee surgery).
The rest of the Heat’s roster is expected to be available for Wednesday’s game in Toronto.
This story was originally published January 16, 2024 at 12:41 PM.
