Even though it's the most wonderful time of the year, the injury status is still up in the air for Miami Heat's Jimmy Butler as they have a Christmas Day matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers. Because of a left calf strain, Butler has missed the last two games for the Heat against the Orlando Magic and the Atlanta Hawks, both of which resulted in wins for the team.
While he was ruled out from the get-go for those last two games, Butler has been upgraded to “questionable” in the lead up to the Christmas Day game. According to the NBA official injury report which is updated every hour, Butler is still questionable as of the 12:30 p.m. (EST) listing.
Butler suffered the injury during the loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves which also saw the returns of stars Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. It could have been the reason why the 34-year old only scored 15 points in last Monday's loss where he started the contest aggressive, but slowed down throughout the remainder of the game. On the year, he's averaging 21.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game in his 14th season.
It's not a new phenomenon for Miami to have these injury problems, which has propelled younger and role players to step up and make some noise. Filling in for Butler has been rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. who has been efficient since the start of the season.
While he's been a staple in the Heat's second unit, he has started the last couple of games, including Miami's win against the Hawks last Friday where he scored 19 points and collected seven rebounds. The comparisons won't stop between Butler and Jaquez, but that isn't so much of a bad thing.
Adebayo said “brighter days” are ahead despite injuries
Adebayo who should be a huge factor in the game against the Sixers Monday said earlier last week that “brighter days” are ahead for the team. While the Heat have had “ups and downs,” the team is still able to get wins despite the hurdles.
“We have ups and downs throughout the season and we had them last year,” Adebayo said. “So a lot of guys who have been through what we been through last year know there are always brighter days and you always have an opportunity to get wins. I feel like we have a team, even though we’re down in guys, we can still get Ws.”
Spoelstra feels Heat have “great depth”
Since the beginning of training camp, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra has always talked about the team's depth, even saying that Miami is deeper than it was last season. He said before the win to the Magic last Wednesday that the team has the continuity, but needs to be “consistent.”
“We do feel like we have great depth,” Spoelstra said. “We have great continuity, so I’m not as concerned when we’ve had to deal with guys missing games. It’s more about developing the consistency to our identity, which we know. We have the continuity. It’s about whoever is out there, we know what we need to try to do. We just need to do it more consistently.”
The other Heat players on the injury report are Haywood Highsmith who has been on the injury report many times this season, this time he's “questionable” with a “cold.” Josh Richardson is also on the report as he is still dealing with back spasms, but he is “probable” for the Christmas Day game.
The Heat are looking for their third straight win as they face the Sixers tonight at the Kaseya Center to hopefully cap off a successful Christmas. Philadelphia will be without superstar Joel Embiid, so the game should be interesting to see who steps up. Miami is 17-12 on the season which puts them at fifth in the Eastern Conference.
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