The Heat are on ice.
Miami star Jimmy Butler is expected to miss at least four weeks with an MCL injury he suffered in the Heat’s 105-104 play-in game loss to the 76ers on Wednesday night, according to multiple reports on Thursday.
That means that Butler will not be on the court when the Heat take on the Bulls on Friday night in a play-in game that will decide who advances to the NBA playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The six-time All-Star appeared to hurt himself early on in the game when he went for the basket in the waning seconds of the first quarter.
As Butler went up to take a shot near the rim, Kelly Oubre Jr. jumped high to defend it but ended up falling awkwardly onto Butler’s right knee, which sent the Heat start down to the court and holding onto his right leg.
An annoyed Butler called out Oubre later in the day.
Butler, however, played through the injury at the time.
The veteran forward logged 40 minutes, scoring 19 points with four rebounds and five assists.
Butler’s mobility appeared to get worse as the game went along, and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said postgame that Butler’s knee kept getting stiffer and stiffer.
Butler was 2 for 4 from the floor when he got hurt — then just 3 for 14 in the remainder of the game.
The winner of the Bulls-Heat game will be a heavy underdog against the top-seeded Celtics in the first round.
Boston was an NBA-best 64-18 this season and after getting shocked by the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals a season ago.
“We will do this the hard way,” Spoelstra said in Philadelphia on Wednesday night, when Butler played most of the game after getting hurt and Miami lost 105-104 — missing out on a chance to be the No. 7 seed in the East. “That has to be the path right now.”
The win for the 76ers sets up a matchup with the second-seeded Knicks.
— with AP