MIAMI – Wednesday night marked the return of Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler as they beat the New Orleans Pelicans in the first game of a back-to-back, 119-108. Butler had dealt with a stomach illness that made him miss the last five games as well as being the face of trade speculation in the NBA where teammates Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo reacted to the star's return.

There is no doubt that the outside noise was loud with speculation, but the team had to worry more so about the season in front of them and win basketball games as they handled business against a struggling Pelicans team. Miami star Tyler Herro had a straight-forward reaction to Butler being back as their connection was as strong as ever.

“It's good just to have him back out there,” Herro said. “Always great playing with him.”

The Heat's All-Star hopeful in Herro would have another impressive game, finishing with 32 points on 11 for 22 shooting from the field, including five of 12 from beyond the arc. He led the team to victory as it was a modest game for Butler who scored nine points on three-for-five shooting to go along with four rebounds and two assists.

There seemed to be a little bit of rust from the star who was heavily impacted by the aforementioned stomach illness as the Heat's captain Bam Adebayo saw it as a re-adjustment process since Butler has been gone for some time.

“You always got to readjust when somebody comes out, and especially been gone for 13 days,” Adebayo said. “but he'll get back acclimated, we'll get him back into flow, and then we'll be okay.”

Heat's Erik Spoelstra on not playing Jimmy Butler in the fourth quarter

New Orleans Pelicans forward Herbert Jones (2) defends Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) during the second half at Kaseya Center.
Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

The usage rate for Butler was noticeably low in the win over the Pelicans as he would not make his first shot from the field until under a minute left in the second quarter where he made a three-pointer. Still, the team thrived for the most part without him as the team came out the gate with a 20-5 run and while there were some concerning spurts in the second period where New Orleans dwindled a big lead to three, Miami stifled their opponents.

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Butler would play close to 25 minutes as Erik Spoelstra took him out of the game with 3:29 left in the third frame where he didn't appear again. The Heat head coach in Spoelstra would explain the decision to not play Butler in the entire fourth quarter, denying that it was to conserve him since it was the first game of a back-to-back.

“I wasn't even thinking about it as a back-to-back,” Spoelstra said. “13 days is a long time away, and I just went with the group there in the fourth, you know, that was getting us most and to see if that group could close that out.”

Heat possibly looking to ease Jimmy Butler back in 

It will be a continuous process for Butler to get back into the swing of things as it could be a plan to ease into his usual usage rate. Spoelstra would say to ClutchPoints before the game that he would “read it in real time” in how he'll deal with minutes back from the illness.

“It was good that he was able to get a couple workouts while we were gone, and then practice yesterday,” Spoelstra said. “And I will just read it, you know, in real-time. You know, see how he manages everything.”

Miami is now 17-14 as they prepare to take on the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night in the second game of the back-to-back.