Even with the huge returns of Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, the Miami Heat are hit with more injury news as star Jimmy Butler will be out for Wednesday's game against the Orlando Magic. Butler suffered from a left calf strain that he got in Monday's Heat loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves according to Adam Lichtenstein of The Sun Sentinel.
Jimmy Butler is dealing with a left calf injury he suffered during last night’s game and will not play against Orlando tomorrow. He is day to day.
Kevin Love also did not practice today. He is dealing with a stomach illness and is currently seeing a doctor for it.
— Adam Lichtenstein (@ABLichtenstein) December 19, 2023
The injury could explain why Butler was coasting for the most part as he only scored 15 points on the night which was third on the team behind the aforementioned Herro and Adebayo. Butler isn't the only one on the injury report for tomorrow's game as Kevin Love didn't practice per the Heat on their X (formerly known as Twitter) account.
#MIAvsORL INJURY UPDATE: Jimmy Butler (left calf strain) has been ruled out of tomorrow night's game vs the Magic.
Kevin Love (illness) is listed as questionable.
Kyle Lowry (soreness) is available.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) December 19, 2023
The Heat also announced that point guard Kyle Lowry, who was out Monday due to “soreness,” will be available Wednesday against Orlando. However, with Butler out, that makes another game where the “Big 3” in Miami in him, Adebayo, and Herro haven't played all together. In fact, counting tomorrow's game, the three have only played in seven of the first 28 games.
Bam Adebayo opens up about Butler's injury
Adebayo said after practice Tuesday that it is “frustrating” that Butler can't be present for the game against the Magic since the team has been wanting to build their chemistry. Now, he acknowledges that Herro and himself need to carry the weight to get back into the flow of the team according to The Sun Sentinel.
“It is (frustrating) just because you want to jell, but he’s been burning his tires a little bit, so it wouldn’t shock me if he was injured, playing through injury,” Adebayo said. “Now it’s more important for me and (Herro) to get in the flow, kind of get back and jell. I feel like that’ll be the opportunity to do it.”
Butler has been averaging 21.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. Because Adebayo knows what it's like to have nagging injuries like the hip problem that's made him miss seven straight games, he admires Butler for taking care of it now and resting up.
Butler holding it down since Adebayo and Herro have been out for Miami
He also said he's been holding down the fort since himself and Herro have been out per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
“Jimmy has been trying to will this team for a long time since me and Tyler have been out,” Adebayo said. “He needed that [break]. Nobody wants to go down with an injury, but you don’t want to let it linger. I’m glad he’s taking care of it now.”
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is not worried about the loss of Butler in this upcoming game as he said the team has the “continuity” to play while he rests up. On the other hand, he wants to see the team be more “consistent” when they perform on the floor.
“We have enough continuity,” Spoelstra said. “It’s about getting a whole lot more consistent with our identity, execution, details of what we’re doing in the fourth quarter.”
As Spoelstra said, the Heat have had a bad trend of building up big leads and losing them late in the game which results in defeat. It was evident Monday when they were up 17 points on the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference in the Minnesota Timberwolves, but lost the game.
Miami is 15-12 on the season which puts them at seventh in the Eastern Conference. They'll focus on the Magic without Butler tomorrow before returning home to take on the Atlanta Hawks Friday.
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