The Miami Heat found themselves in a shaky situation as their veteran leader in Jimmy Butler turned his ankle in the fourth quarter of their game against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night. After the game, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra made his voice heard against the game officials as he felt that a flagrant foul should've been called on the play that left Butler injured, per Anthony Chiang.
Erik Spoelstra said he felt a Flagrant should have been called on the play that Jimmy Butler turned his ankle. It looked like Butler landed on Jevon Carter's foot.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) April 14, 2021
Scary moment for Heat fans as Jimmy Butler goes down hard and grabs his ankle 😳pic.twitter.com/7PwtKP9MKl
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 14, 2021
During the first few moments of the final frame, Butler put up a floater but landed on Jevon Carter's foot which led him to turn his ankle and crumble in pain on the ground. No foul was called on the play which forced the swingman to exit the contest. Butler eventually came back a couple of minutes later to lead his team on the floor.
He eventually finished the tilt with a total of 18 points, eight assists, and four rebounds through 32 minutes of action. Despite his efforts, the Suns utilized the huge scoring production of their bench unit to gain a 106-86 lopsided victory over the Heat.
Certainly enough, Butler has been playing a huge role for Miami this season with his averages of 21.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 7.2 assists through 39 games played. The team can't afford to lose Butler's production heading to the latter stages of the season, especially with Victor Oladipo also out due to right knee soreness.
With a depleted lineup, the rest of the Heat should certainly step up if they want to fill in the huge void left by their injured players and win more games moving forward.
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