Heat’s Jimmy Butler out vs. Celtics after tweaking knee: ‘A little banged up. Ain’t nothing new’
Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler entered this season with the goal of playing in as many games as possible. Unfortunately for the Heat and Butler, injuries keep getting in the way.
After missing four games last month because of a sprained right ankle and exiting Wednesday’s win against the Charlotte Hornets early because of back tightness, the 35-year-old Butler is now dealing with a new injury six weeks into the regular season.
Butler has been ruled out for Monday night’s matchup against the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics at TD Garden because of right knee soreness. It marks the fifth game that Butler has missed in the Heat’s first 19 games of the season.
“I’m cool,” Butler said following Sunday’s game when asked how he was feeling. “A little banged up. Ain’t nothing new.”
Those around Butler are cautiously optimistic that the injury is not a serious one that will keep him out for an extended period. There’s currently no plan for Butler to undergo an MRI or X-ray on the knee.
Butler hurt his knee while converting a layup as he was fouled with 1:27 left in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 119-116 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena. Butler remained in the game to take and make the free throw, completing the three-point play to cut the Heat’s deficit to three.
But with Butler not moving well after the play, the Heat took him out of the game with 24.2 seconds remaining even though it was only trailing by three points at the time. Butler watched the rest of the game from the bench.
“Obviously, he wasn’t moving well,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of subbing out Butler in the final seconds of Sunday’s game.
Before being ruled out for Monday’s matchup against the Celtics, Butler held out hope that he might be able to play in Boston.
“I don’t know,” Butler said late Sunday night regarding his potential availability against the Celtics before ultimately missing Monday’s game. “We’ll see how I feel whenever I wake up in the morning, get all the treatment that I can get and hopefully I’m ready to rock.”
The right knee is the same one that Butler hurt late last season, when he sprained his MCL during the NBA’s play-in tournament. He missed the rest of the postseason.
The Heat went 2-2 in the first four games that Butler missed this season.
Butler, who can become a free agent this upcoming summer with a $52.4 million player option in his contract for next season, has averaged 18.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 53.8 percent from the field and 7 of 21 (33.3 percent) from three-point range through his first 14 appearances (14 starts) this season.
Along with missing Butler, the Heat will be without Josh Christopher (G League), Nikola Jovic (left ankle sprain), Kevin Love (back spasms), Josh Richardson (illness) and Kel’el Ware (right foot tendinitis) against the Celtics.
The Heat brought in reinforcement amid its injury issues, as two-way contract rookie forward Keshad Johnson rejoined Miami from the G League for Monday’s game in Boston.
The Celtics will also be short-handed against the Heat, ruling out Kristaps Porzingis (return from injury management), Jrue Holiday (left knee tendinopathy), Al Horford (left big toe sprain) and Sam Hauser (personal reasons).
With Monday’s game against the Celtics marking the end of the Heat’s quick two-game trip, Butler’s next opportunity to get back on the court will be when the Heat returns home to take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday at Kaseya Center.
Monday’s contest in Boston is the first of four straight games for the Heat against teams with winning records. That challenging stretch will be made even tougher if Butler is sidelined for multiple games.
“You can’t hide,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “That’s the thing I love about the NBA. You’re going to play people. You’re going to play the good teams, you’re going to play the bad teams and then you’ll see where you are.”
LESSONS LEARNED
Monday’s game in Boston marks the first time that the Heat and Celtics have faced off since last season’s first-round playoff series between the two teams. The Celtics won that best-of-7 series, 4-1.
But Heat guard Tyler Herro didn’t just move past that experience once it was over. He actually based most of his offseason workouts on the lessons he learned from that series, watching film of those games this past summer.
“I watched different clips, just watching different ways that they were guarding me,” Herro said. “... I think after I took a couple weeks off, I watched it and kind of made some adjustments in my game that I thought could help me this season.”
With the Heat missing Butler and Terry Rozier because of injuries during that series, Herro found himself at the center of Miami’s offensive game plan but also at the center of Boston’s defensive game plan.
Herro struggled for most of the five-game series against a Celtics defense focused on slowing him down, averaging 16.8 points per game on 38.5 percent shooting from the field and 15-of-43 (34.9 percent) shooting from three-point range while also being hunted on the defensive end.
But the Heat’s short playoff run also provided a glimpse at what it looks like when Herro puts it all together, as he recorded 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and 6-of-11 shooting from three-point range, five rebounds and a career-high 14 assists in Game 2 in Boston to lead the Heat to its only win of the series.
“I thought it helped me, my growth and development,” Herro said, reflecting on that experience. “We were injured. So having guys out, I had to step up in a different way. Just going through that experience was overall good for me and the group.”
Among the adjustments Herro made following last season’s playoff series against the Celtics were “just being more efficient in my movements and not over dribbling.”
“Taking the first shot that’s open, whether that’s a catch-and-shoot three or a pull-up three or whatever it is,” Herro continued. “And then having to get stronger and things like that. But just watching it was enough for me.”
That work has paid off so far this season, as Herro entered Monday’s game against the Celtics averaging career highs in points (24 per game) and assists (4.9 per game) while shooting a career-best 47 percent from the field and a career-best 41.9 percent from three-point range in his sixth NBA season.
Herro, who turns 25 on Jan. 20, also reached a milestone in Sunday’s loss to the Raptors.
With his fifth made three in Sunday’s defeat, Herro passed Tim Hardaway for second place on the Heat’s all-time list for three-pointers made. Only Duncan Robinson stands ahead of Herro on this list, entering Monday with 1,056 made threes to Herro’s 808 threes.
“I just got to continue to play at this level and continue to get better and keep trying to take it to another level,” Herro said.
This story was originally published December 2, 2024 at 1:48 PM.
