Heat's Jimmy Butler hurts ankle late but makes his presence known
The Heat's Jimmy Butler is hurt in the fourth quarter while playing the Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Madison Square Garden. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
As much as he was hurting as he limped toward the Miami bench, Jimmy Butler wasn’t coming out of Sunday’s game. A win over the Knicks in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series was in sight, and the Heat’s best player and leader was going to see it through.
Butler drew a foul and rolled his right ankle with Miami up three points and 5:05 left in the fourth quarter. He hit the floor, grabbed the ankle and spent more than a minute being tended to before heading to the bench in a timeout. He then hobbled to the free-throw line and made a pair of free throws to keep the Heat on track for a 108-101 win at the Garden.
They were the last of his 25 points as Miami seized the series’ home-court advantage.
Asked about returning to the court in a television interview afterward, Butler replied, “Find a way to win. Be out there. Be a presence. I didn’t do too much except air ball a three, but I’ll take the ‘dub.’ ”
“That certainly is inspiring, that he would not come out of the game and be able to finish the game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Just infuse a bunch of confidence to the rest of the guys that we have to finish this off.”
While Butler didn’t give another postgame interview, watching him in the locker room spoke volumes. He moved gingerly, halted while putting on his dress sock to summon the trainer to wrap his swollen ankle, winced as he slid the sock on and winced again as he slipped into his right shoe.
Spoelstra chose not to speculate on his availability for Tuesday’s Game 2 at the Garden.
“No idea — you just don’t know with ankle sprains,” Spoelstra said when asked for a prognosis. “I don’t even know if we’ll know more by tomorrow. We’ll have to see. There’ll be a waiting game. But he did not want to come out of the game, so we left him in.”
Butler’s importance to the Heat in these playoffs was made clear as No. 8 Miami ousted No. 1 Milwaukee in five games. He had 56 points in the Game 4 win and made the circus shot with a half-second left in regulation before the Heat won Game 5 in overtime. He averaged 37.6 points in that series.
He underscored it in the third quarter against the Knicks when a 21-5 Miami run flipped an eight-point deficit into an eight-point lead and set the Heat on course to win. Butler had eight points and an assist in the run.
Playing compromised in the final five minutes, Butler couldn’t do much on either end. When the Heat had the ball, he spotted up in a corner as only a three-point threat. He didn’t move well on defense, though the Knicks didn’t attack him much — something they regretted afterward.
“[It’s a] tricky situation. Obviously, he wasn’t 100%,” Jalen Brunson said. “He’s one of the best defenders in the league, so even if his feet aren’t moving fast side to side, he has great hands. But as a team, we got to do a better job recognizing what’s going on, especially late in the game. It starts with me.”
The Heat have won despite a pair of major injuries during the Milwaukee series. Three-point specialist Tyler Herro suffered a broken hand and Victor Oladipo was lost to a knee injury requiring surgery. Butler, in the television interview, described a team capable of persevering through all these injuries.
“We’re together at home, on the road, through the good and through the bad,” he said. “We believe that we can do something special. We’re going to continue to play as such and we’re going to see where we end up in the end.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
