Heat begin ‘waiting game’ on Jimmy Butler after he sprained ankle in Game 1 against the Knicks

Miami started off the Eastern Conference’s semifinals series at the Madison Square Garden on the right foot, after beating the Knicks 108 to 101 this Sunday afternoon. However, it came at a significant cost, considering that their star Jimmy Butler sprained his right ankle in the final minutes of the game.

Even though the player stayed on court during the rest of their seven-point victory, he seemed in clear pain and was rather unproductive down the stretch. “[It feels] like a rolled ankle,” he told the press after the match.

Take a look at his reactions after he misstepped while attempting to drive to the rim against New York guard Josh Hart:

“F**k”

— Spo on Jimmy Butler injury pic.twitter.com/zv2PqpzeAC

— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) April 30, 2023

Even though the foward was given a foul on the play, he stayed on the floor for some minutes before getting up to take his free throw. He then proceded to score both his shots from the line, and remained the rest of the contest in this condition.

The player then decided to limit his movements as much as possible, finishing the game with 25 points and 11 rebounds after dropping 8 out of his 16 attempts from the field.

“He sprained his ankle several times with us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra explained. “I know him, I know when I can look in his eye and he assured me he wasn’t going to be a liability and he wanted to stay in there and make sure we get this win.

“That’s the most important thing, we have a lot of chaos and a lot of things going on, but the main thing being the main thing, we have to secure the win. We’ll find out what happens in the next 48 hours.”

Spoelstra was then asked about his potential replacement, in case Butler isn’t able to return for the next game of the conference’s semifinals. “I don’t know. Udonis Haslem, probably,” the trainer struggled to answer. “I don’t wanna get beat up on national TV.”

As we are yet to have new information about his injury, Miami enter a ‘waiting game’ this Monday

“No idea,” Spoelstra said about the gravity of his injury. “You just don’t know with ankle sprains. I don’t even know if we’ll know more by tomorrow [Monday]. We’ll just have to see. It’ll be a waiting game. But he did not want to come out of the game, so we left him in there.”

Butler, on the other hand, mostly dedicated his words to talk about how strong his squad feels as United as they are.

“We’re just playing great basketball,” Butler said after the contest at the Garden. “We’re together at home, on the road, through good and through the bad. We believe that we can do something special. We’re going to continue to play as such, and we’re going to see where we end up in the end.”

Check out the full game highlights from this new chapter of a classic rivalry in the East:

His teammate Kyle Lowry gave praise to him after the match, explaining what an inspiration he is for the team and how this just went to show how strong of a player he is for staying in the game.

“That’s our guy. He’s our star. He’s our franchise player,” he said. “We always want him to get up and the thoughts are hopefully he’s OK but if he’s not, we got to find, hold it down. … But this is what he does. He finished the game and he’s a tough dude.”