Well, that's not good, is it? Just one day after the Miami Heat took a heavy loss in the first game of the 2024 NBA playoffs to the Celtics, the possible return of Jimmy Butler from his knee injury—the one glimmer of hope for a comeback—appears to have been dashed.
This is because, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania, Butler will not be making a comeback from his MCL injury in the first round. Without Butler, the Heat suffered a 114-94 loss to Boston on Sunday, in a game that was not even as close as the 20-point final score reported.
The The Celtics shot 47.6% in the game and 44.9% from the 3-point line. Miami never took the lead, and the Celtics built up a second-half lead of 34 points.
It's no surprise that the Heat were hopeful for a Butler comeback.
However, speaking on FanDuel TV, Charania stated, “I find it unbelievable that Jimmy Butler played three quarters with, as I've heard, a severe MCL sprain. He will not be returning in this series.”Jimmy Butler Pushed Through Serious Pain
Butler sustained the injury during last Wednesday’s play-in loss to the
. Towards the end of the first quarter, Butler raced ahead for a fast-break chance and went up for a head fake as Kelly Oubre attempted to recover on defense. Butler landed awkwardly after Oubre seemed to swing his knee towards Butler. SixersButler hit the floor immediately, clutching his knee. He went on to complete the game, but after starting with seven points on 2-for-4 shooting in the first quarter, Butler finished with 19 points on 5-for-18 shooting.
Although the Heat defeated the Bulls without Butler in the second East play-in, and despite the fact that he won't be returning, he deserves recognition for finishing the Sixers loss.
“This is a recovery that will take at least one month, possibly two months,” Charania mentioned. “This is something that Jimmy Butler will have to work on. It's seriously astonishing to me that he played three quarters with this injury. They identified it, essentially, within 12 hours after the game, they understood what he had endured. Thankfully for him, it wasn't an ACL, it wasn't a meniscus.
“Even if the Heat were to progress in this first round, it still leaves his availability for the postseason very uncertain. But I am still shocked, the more I learn about it, the more I think about it, that he played through that.”
Miami Heat Players Still ‘Believe’ vs. Celtics
However, even after the performance against the Celtics on Sunday, all hope is not lost without Butler. The Heat have been quite used to playing without their stars all season, not having Butler for 22 games, and being without Tyler Herro for 40 games. The team
achieved a 13-9 record despite Butler's absence, and was 23-17 without Herro. Star center Bam Adebayo mentioned that the Heat anticipate being underestimated from now on.
“They’re going to look at us and think, 'We can’t win because we don’t have Jimmy [Butler],'”‘ Adebayo explained,
. “But ultimately, you have to play the game. You have to go out there and compete. … per SI.com“From that perspective, we understand that we're heading into the game with people doubting us, people not believing in us. The guys in that locker room have faith. As long as the guys in the locker room and the coaching staff have faith, we always have a chance.”
Jimmy Butler, a key player for the Miami Heat, was not able to play in the first game against the Celtics due to a knee injury. Shams Charania, an insider, does not expect him to come back.
