Miami Heat shooting guard Tyler Johnson has been ruled out of the Thursday night’s home game against the Chicago Bulls after suffering a sprained ankle in the second quarter of the matchup, according to the Heat’s official Twitter account.
INJURY UPDATE: Tyler Johnson sustained a sprained right ankle in the 2nd quarter of tonight's game vs the Bulls. He will not return.
This is unfortunate news for the Heat, who started the day ecstatic knowing that their center, Hassan Whiteside, was finally going to play in his first game since Mar. 8. Whiteside missed the Heat’s previous nine games because of a hip issue.
The gravity of Johnson’s injury is still currently being diagnosed, but it is apparently serious enough to keep him from playing against the Bulls.
Miami entered the Chicago game clutching a 40-35 record, which is good for seventh in the Eastern Conference. The Heat are not completely out of the woods yet, as they are ahead of the ninth-place Detroit by 5.5 games, but it would take a combination of a colossal collapse by Miami and an immaculate finish by Blake Griffin and company to take Erik Spoelstra’s squad out of the playoff picture.
Tyler Johnson sustained his injury after landing on Bulls center Robin Lopez’s foot. Before he left the game, Johnson had six points on 3-for-6 shooting from the field in 12 minutes of action.
If Johnson would miss any time beyond this meeting with Chicago, that would leave Miami even thinner at the two-guard spot. Dwyane Wade and Rodney McGruder are currently the only healthy shooting guards for the Heat, who lost Dion Waiters earlier this season to a foot injury.
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