The Miami Heat host an integral play-in tournament game Friday night as they face the Chicago Bulls where the winner gets the eighth seed and battles the No. 1 seeded Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. However, they will be without their main star in Jimmy Butler who is out for several weeks with an MCL sprain and Terry Rozier as Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro look to take a bigger role.
Butler was injured towards the end of the first quarter where he landed awkwardly on Philadelphia 76ers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. in the loss Wednesday night. He was noticeably in pain and even played 40 minutes that game, but he has to miss an extended amount of time as Adebayo said at shoot-around Friday that it's his and Herro's “opportunity” to come up big for Miami according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“This is our opportunity,” Adebayo said. “We’ve always had little stints of this. But this is our opportunity right now.”
“Jimmy is going to be Jimmy,” Adebayo said on Butler providing support for the team. “He’s still going to support us. For us, we just go out there and lock in and rally around each other.”
Tyler Herro talks about how injuries have plagued the Heat this season
Herro was the player the Heat went to rely on for offense once Butler was limited with his injury where he had an up-and-down performance as he scored 25 points and nine assists, but made nine of his 27 attempts from the field with five turnovers. The 24-year old mentioned how injuries have been a constant trend the whole season as he called it a “regular game” for them per Chiang.
“This is pretty much how our season has been going the whole year,” Herro said. “We’ve had guys in and out of the lineup. So it’s kind of a regular game for us, honestly.”
Caleb Martin repeats the phrase “we have enough”
The one phrase that has been repeated by Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra throughout this season and others is that “we have enough” which encapsulates the next man-up mentality. Miami was fifth in most missed games this season with 35 different starting lineups throughout the year as star Caleb Martin said that while obviously Butler being out is a “big hit,” he stresses that they have plenty to win which is “part of our culture.”
“Obviously, JB [Butler] going down is a big hit,” Martin said. “But like coach says, we have enough. We have more than enough. We’ve shown it in the past where guys go down, that’s part of the game and guys have to step up. That’s part of our culture, too. So there’s no excuses and we’ll be ready to play.”
One thing is for certain, the season is on the line Friday night as the team take on the Bulls who beat the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday night. If it seems like deja vu, it's a valid feeling as Miami also took on Chicago in the second play-in game where they ended up making the NBA Finals. Heat fans are hoping to see history repeat itself.
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