By: Adam El-Zein
The Miami Heat went up against the Philadelphia 76ers last night in the play-in tournament. With Philly holding the 7th seed, and Miami at the 8th seed, the two teams clashed to see who would advance to take on the New York Knicks in the first round. In the end, the 76ers outlasted the Heat, but that wasn’t the biggest story from this game.
Taking on his former team, Jimmy Butler was far from ‘playoff Jimmy’ last night in a playoff-like atmosphere. He played three-fourths of the game with a hurt knee, after injuring it during the final seconds of the first quarter. Butler ended up playing a whopping 40 minutes, putting up 19 points, on just 5-for-18 shooting. Far from what fans expect from one of the league’s most prolific playoff performers. Miami ended up dropping this one only by a point, with a final score of 105-104.
There’s some added importance to Butler’s health. The Miami Heat will be taking on the Chicago Bulls in a ‘win or go home’ game. The winner of that matchup will advance to play the Boston Celtics in the first round. The loser will have their season cut early.
According to a report from Shams Charania, Butler is expected to miss the next several weeks. A tough loss for Miami, who will be without their star in Friday’s matchup against the Bulls. Even if they were to beat the Bulls and advance to the first round, Butler would still miss that series against Boston.
“It had me feeling that I couldn’t do too much,” said Butler to the media.
After fighting to play through a hurt knee for 40 minutes, he limped his way out of Wells Fargo Center.
Be the first to comment