MIAMI — Playoff Jimmy is getting closer to playing.
After Jimmy Butler sat out Miami’s close second-round Game 2 loss to the Knicks with a sprained right ankle, he is gradually trending toward a possible return in Saturday’s Game 3 at Kaseya Center.
The Heat officially listed Butler as questionable on Friday afternoon’s injury report.
But with Butler, reports mean little.
“Jimmy’s a different character,” Miami center Bam Adebayo said of Butler with a laugh. “So I feel like the will of him is he’s not going to tell you exactly how he feels. For us, he said he feels good: We go with that.”
Different? Different how? What’s so different about Butler?
“Just by how he handles certain injuries, I feel like he’s a warrior in that aspect, because he won’t tell you how he truly feels,” Adebayo said. “I feel like he just has that will to win. So he’ll just go out there 50 percent or 60 percent and he’ll tell you he’s fine.”
Butler sprained his ankle with five minutes left in Game 1 at the Garden while driving when Knick guard Josh Hart slipped into Butler’s foot and it rolled over.
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Insisting on gutting out the rest of that Heat victory, clearly hobbled and barely mobile, Butler finished the contest with 25 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals.
He was forced to sit out Miami’s close loss in Game 2, with the Heat bringing a split back to South Florida.
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra was vague when talking about Butler at Friday’s practice, saying he wouldn’t have any clarity until forced to before tipoff Saturday.
“Jimmy is … he’s working and we’ll see,” Spoelstra said. “I’ll probably have an update for you, I don’t know, probably around 2:15 [Saturday]. Don’t hold me to that. But we know what his intentions are. We’ll just see.”
Butler has not spoken to the media or commented publicly since first suffering the injury other than his on-court TV interview in the aftermath of the Game 1 win.
He wasn’t visible during the part of Heat practice that was open to reporters on Friday.
But Butler did post both video and photos on his Instagram late Thursday night, showing both part of a workout and also a picture of his right ankle with little or no apparent swelling.
During the regular season, Butler averaged 22.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 64 games for Miami.
He’s been far more dominant so far in the postseason, living up to his Playoff Jimmy reputation, boosting those averages to 35.5 points, 6.8 boards and 4.7 assists in a half-dozen games.
“As a guy that knows how competitive he is, I would be optimistic,” Miami point guard Kyle Lowry said at Thursday’s practice. “But who knows, honestly?”