The Miami Heat face the Portland Trail Blazers Friday night in the final game in the current home stand as it is a must-win game as there are 10 contests left in the regular season. However, there are once again multiple key players for the team listed on the injury report ahead of the matchup including Heat star Jimmy Butler.
Before Tuesday’s game against the Golden State Warriors, Butler was a late addition to the injury report as he was listed as questionable with an illness, being seen at the Miami Open tennis event the day before the battle. He would eventually be ruled out of the game as told to ClutchPoints by a Heat spokesperson. His state of health was even described by head coach Erik Spoelstra before the outing.
“He’s sick, doesn’t feel well at all today,” Spoelstra said on Butler’s illness. “So we’ll evaluate and tomorrow see how he feels.”
The Heat would eventually lose against the Warriors where Butler was sorely missed as he brings an energy, leadership, and exceptional level of play that is needed for this time of the season. Listed on the injury report before Friday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers with an head illness that is non-COVID, the question still remains: Is Jimmy Butler playing tonight vs the Blazers?
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Jimmy Butler injury status vs. Blazers
In terms of Butler’s listing on the injury report, it is great news for the Heat and their fans as he is “probable” for Friday’s game against the Blazers as he still deals with an illness as announced by the team’s X (formerly known as Twitter) account. After Thursday’s practice, ClutchPoints was told Butler was at the session where he did some drills and was a limited participant.
Butler is averaging 21.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game while shooting 50.1 percent from the field as he is looking to take Miami over the hump and make some more noise in the postseason. It starts Friday against the Blazers where the Heat need a win desperately as a loss could falter their chances even further of moving up in the Eastern Conference standings.
Other star players on Heat besides Butler dealing with injuries
Besides Butler, the Heat are dealing with other injuries that have a mixed bag of news starting with Tyler Herro who has missed the last 16 games with “right foot; medial tendinitis.” He will miss his 17th straight against Portland Friday and while there is not a timetable for his return, he was present after practice shooting the ball as Spoelstra expressed “he’s on that next phase.”
“He’s on that next phase of his return,” Spoelstra said. “We don’t have a timeline, but yeah it’s definitely encouraging that he’s able to get on the wood and start to get ready. This is part of the ramp up, this is part of the plan and there is a lot of encouraging things with guys that have been out, everybody has been making really good progress.”
Kevin Love is another crucial player for Miami that has missed a significant amount of time as he has been the primary backup for star Bam Adebayo at the center position that adds spacing and veteran leadership. After being absent for 14 straight games, he is listed as “probable” for Friday where funny enough, the last game he played was against Portland on Feb. 27. Despite being being out for Thursday’s practice, Spoelstra said it was for “personal reasons.”
“He was out today for personal reasons, but he has made tremendous progress,” Spoelstra said. “His status will be upgraded tomorrow and we’ll see how he feels.”
Another key player for the Heat is Duncan Robinson who has missed the last four games with left facet syndrome and will be out against Portland. Not to mention the fact that rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Caleb Martin are also on the injury report with ankle discomfort, but they are probable.
Spoelstra says stars have to balance urgency and not rushing injuries
With the amount of injuries to the team, one would think it has to be frustrating for the players that want to get back out there, but can’t rush their return. Spoelstra touched on this and said to ClutchPoints that it has to be a balancing act from the players where it has to “be all hands on deck,” but “in an intelligent way.”
“You have to balance like all of this, right now it’s it has to be this idea of all hands on deck, but it has to be in an intelligent way. We’re trying to get back guys out there as quickly as we possibly can,” Spoelstra said. “They’re doing whatever they have to do around the clock to make themselves available. Ultimately, all this becomes about committing to something bigger than yourself to the team, whatever you can get at this time of year and then each case is different. Everybody’s body is different. Everybody’s rehab is different, the ramp up is different. And we have to treat that accordingly. But we’re getting guys back, we’re encouraged by the progress and in the meantine, we just have to do whatever we have to do to get wins. We know how to do that.”
The Heat are 39-33 on the season which puts them seventh in the tightly packed Eastern Conference. Every games matters now as the next two for Miami will give them no excuses as they face the Blazers Friday and the Washington Wizards Sunday,
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