Photo by: AP/Getty Images
The Jimmy Butler watch continues. The forward appears likely to miss at least one of the Miami Heat‘s matchups against the Boston Celtics, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. As of Tuesday afternoon, the forward has yet to join the team in Boston. As a result, the team is preparing for their star player to sit out Wednesday’s game against Boston, stretching his game absence to seven. Miami will practice again on Thursday and should have a better read on Butler’s availability for Friday.
No Word from Jimmy Butler and Heat
There’s been no word on the severity of Butler’s injury from the Heat. Miami usually keeps quiet on the severity on the players injuries and only provides their status on injury reports. Butler has been training in Miami while away from the team. He posted a couple of workout videos on social media this past weekend. Like the Heat, Butler has been silent on his injury.
In Butler’s absence, the Heat have gone 3-3. They lost the first three games on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Washington Wizards. Since then, they’ve won their last three games against the Wizards and the Atlanta Hawks. While Butler has been sidelined, the Heat have received contributions from Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin, Kyle Lowry, and Bam Adebayo. Adebayo has been taking on the scoring burden during the three-game win streak, with 38 points and 32 points the past two games.
Preparing for Boston’s Firepower
Miami has their work cut out for them tomorrow in Boston. The Celtics enter Wednesday’s game as the league’s highest-scoring team (121.3 PPG). Conversely, the Heat are ranked 28th in points per game (108.4). Despite their man-to-man defensive struggles, Miami has quietly crept into the top 10 defensive rating in the league. The Heat have primarily been using their zone defense, mainly with guys being out. However, the Heat’s zone defense is going to be in for a huge challenge against Boston’s great offense. We’ll see how that works out on Wednesday.
