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Jimmy Butler was surprisingly held out of the game during the entire fourth quarter, being taken out at the 2:33 mark of the third quarter for sixth man Jamal Crawford, and never entering again, as the Minnesota Timberwolves fell to the Houston Rockets 122-104 in a decisive Game 5.
Asked for the reasoning behind his benching, Tom Thibodeau resorted to saying he was being careful with his star player.
“He just said it was sore, so we wanted to use caution,” said Thibodeau during the post-game press conference, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “He had surgery so we're concerned anytime someone's hurt.”
Butler finished with eight points, five rebounds, and five assists, after missing all three of his shots in the third period.
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His injury didn't seem to be of any real concern for Thibodeau during the regular season, as he logged 42 minutes in a season-finale matchup with the Denver Nuggets, only a few days after his return from a meniscus tear.
Butler played 36, 25, 41, and 38 minutes from Games 1 through 4 — making his absence more likely to be a byproduct of the Rockets blowing the game wide open with a 30-15 third quarter.
The Timberwolves were still within striking distance, which makes this decision a dumbfounding one by a coach who is known for running his starters into the ground — with two of his players (Butler and Andrew Wiggins) ranking in the top 10 in minutes played per game, and Karl-Anthony Towns shortly trailing at 13th in the league with 35.6 per game.
While Butler's health should be a priority to this team, it's still a little confusing coming from an old-school coach that believes in playing his best players as much as possible, which makes Butler's disappearance that much more puzzling.
