The Miami Heat are heading into a crucial Wednesday night matchup against the Denver Nuggets in an NBA Finals rematch where the injury report contains key players such as Tyler Herro, Kevin Love, and even featured star Jimmy Butler. These two teams faced off on Feb. 29 where the Nuggets hosted the Heat and got another game on them, 103-97.
As for Butler, he is in fact on the injury report for Wednesday's game, but fans should not have to worry much as he is listed as “probable” per Miami's social media with an “illness.” This was announced after Tuesday's practice where Butler was not present, which prompted questions about his status, but the 34-year old is set to play.
This is obviously great news for the team as there are 18 games left in the regular season where every game matters at this point as they are eighth in a tightly-packed Eastern Conference. Any result can impact Miami in the standings, especially after the team suffered a disappointing loss to the Washington Wizards, who came into that Sunday contest with 10 wins.
While Butler will most likely be made available, the team is still dealing with the absences of the aforementioned Herro and Love, which after the Nuggets game, each will have missed their ninth and seventh game respectively. The former has dealt with a few injuries being a hyperextended knee, but since that has cleared up, the issue has been “right foot medial tendinitis.”
As for Love, he is dealing with a right heel bruise as his last action came in the win against the Portland Trail Blazers on Feb. 27. The Heat are 35-29 and is in the home stretch of the season where they look to snap a three-game losing skid against Denver Wednesday.