{"id":73866,"date":"2024-04-18T10:40:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T14:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=73866"},"modified":"2024-04-18T10:40:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T14:40:10","slug":"heat-jimmy-butler-suffers-knee-injury-ahead-must-win-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/18\/heat-jimmy-butler-suffers-knee-injury-ahead-must-win-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Heat Star Suffers Knee Injury Ahead of Must-Win Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the aftermath of the Miami Heat\u2019s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/17\/miami-heats-play-in-chances-seventh-seed-on-the-line-tonight\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Play-In Tournament<\/a>, All-Star forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/butleji01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jimmy Butler<\/a> will be out for multiple weeks with a sprained MCL, per The Athletic\u2019s Shams Charania.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The expectation is Jimmy Butler will be out for multiple weeks with what is feared to be an MCL injury, per <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ShamsCharania<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SJId33jAoM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/SJId33jAoM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BleacherReport\/status\/1780950150275342583?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Jimmy Butler Suffers Knee Injury Ahead of Must-Win Game<\/h2>\n<p>Butler sustained the injury with 1.5 seconds remaining in the first quarter. After receiving a signature full-court inbounds pass from teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/loveke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Love<\/a>, Butler pump faked to get Sixers wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/oubreke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kelly Oubre<\/a> in the air and draw a shooting foul.<\/p>\n<p>However, in doing so, the 200-plus pound Oubre landed on Butler\u2019s right leg. In pain, Butler rolled around, grabbing his right knee.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jimmy Butler goes down, grabs at his right leg and screams.<\/p>\n<p>Erik Spoelstra: &#8220;What the f*ck was that?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Alonzo Mourning: &#8220;Oh boy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Pat Riley looks on in concern. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GwcY9ynJd3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/GwcY9ynJd3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wes Goldberg (@wcgoldberg) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wcgoldberg\/status\/1780745084880757218?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 17, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Following the game, Butler discussed the play, saying \u201cI fell and he landed and my knee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/sports\/nba\/miami-heat\/article287784575.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">just didn\u2019t do well<\/a>, I guess\u201d (per the Miami Herald\u2019s Anthony Chiang).<\/p>\n<h3>Warrior\u2019s Mentality<\/h3>\n<p>Although Butler was hurt, he attempted to tough out the injury, understanding the magnitude of the game. He was hobbled, limping around for the next three quarters. Yet, while <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/18\/miami-heat-culture-why-it-wont-die-if-the-heat-bow-out-early-this-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">his mighty mentality<\/a> is beyond reproach, he might had been better off sitting out.<\/p>\n<p>Finishing Wednesday\u2019s game with 19 points on 5-18 shooting, it was far from Butler\u2019s best scoring efforts. A two-way playmaker, he still dished out five assists and collecting five steals. Nonetheless, his movement was clearly limited and it hampered him at both ends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly, I thought the adrenaline would kick back in and I\u2019d be able to move,\u201d Butler says. \u201cBut that just wasn\u2019t the case. I wasn\u2019t able to do anything on either side of the ball and I think I hurt us more than I helped us actually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra would say Butler is \u201cputting himself out there\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026I just really appreciate him for that competitive spirit,\u201d Spoelstra adds.<\/p>\n<p>After their loss, Butler was seen wearing a protective sleeve on his right knee.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jimmy Butler said he expects to undergo an MRI on his knee. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lFtY0NmGGr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/lFtY0NmGGr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Anthony_Chiang\/status\/1780784893087175118?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope that I\u2019m fine,\u201d Butler told reporters, knowing that Miami must defeat the Chicago Bulls on Friday in order to clinch a playoff berth. \u201cI hope that I wake up tomorrow and can still stick-and-move. Right now, I can\u2019t say that\u2019s the case.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the aftermath of the Miami Heat\u2019s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in the Play-In Tournament, All-Star forward Jimmy Butler will be out for multiple weeks with a sprained MCL, per The Athletic\u2019s Shams Charania. The expectation is Jimmy Butler will be out for multiple weeks with what is feared to be an MCL injury, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":73883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1608,8,62,3,13],"tags":[583,142,2624,4745,596,832],"class_list":["post-73866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heat","category-basketball","category-bulls","category-nba","category-news","category-76ers","tag-erik-spoelstra","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-kelly-oubre","tag-nba-injuries","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-ncaa-tournament"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}