South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Butler’s right ankle becomes latest injury concern
Sprain occurs during Friday loss to Clippers
MIAMI — When it comes to the Miami Heat’s tenuous injury situation, the good news is an idle weekend, a pair of days off for Jimmy Butler, Goran Dragic and Kendrick Nunn to rehabilitate and recover.
The flip side of the schedule is that the time off will be followed by consecutive games at AmericanAirlines Arena on Monday against the Orlando Magic and Tuesday against the Boston Celtics.
The greatest unknown at the moment is Butler, who hobbled to the locker room midway through the fourth quarter of Friday night’s 122-117 home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers after twisting his right ankle for the second time.
That injury came in the wake of the Heat sitting out Dragic, because of a sore left calf, and Nunn, due to a sore left Achilles.
“It’s a sprain,” coach Erik
Spoelstra said of Butler’s injury. “We’ll have to reevaluate. I don’t even like commenting after sprained ankles.
“You have to wait until the next day to see how a guy feels. He’s getting treatment already and we’ll go from there.
“Same with Goran and K-Nunn. At least we have a couple of days before the next game and it’ll give them an opportunity to really get into the training room and get some treatment.”
The injuries come with forward Justise Winslow ruled out for at least another week amid ongoing issues with a lower-back bone bruise that have had him out for all but one game since Dec. 4.
The Heat have won the past two games missed by
Butler: on Jan. 5 against the Portland Trail Blazers, when he sat out with a sore lower back, and this past Monday against the Sacramento Kings, when he was out with a sore right hip. Even Friday, after Butler left with 6 minutes, 9 seconds to play and while facing a 113-99 deficit, the Heat rallied to within three before falling. They are 4-2 overall in his absence.
To the wire
With Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer ineligible to coach in the All-Star Game after handling the assignment last year, the race among coaches in the East for the Feb. 16 assignment in Chicago figures to go to the Feb. 2 cutoff.
The Heat and the Toronto Raptors stand tied at 31-14 for second place in the East, 8 1⁄ games behind the
2
Bucks, with the Boston Celtics a half-game behind the Heat and Raptors at 30-14.
The Heat’s remaining games before the cutoff are the Monday-Tuesday home games against the Magic and Celtics, and then a Feb. 1 game in Orlando. The Raptors have five games before the cutoff, putting Toronto coach Nick Nurse somewhat in control of the situation.
While Spoelstra seemingly would prefer the time off to spend with his newborn son, Nurse said he would embrace the assignment.
“Well, yeah, why not?” he told reporters Friday.
“It’s close to where I grew up and kind of my second city I grew up in. [It’s a] tremendous honor, and shows you have had a tremendous start to the season if you can make it.
“I don’t think it comes around every year in your coaching life, so yeah it would be really cool.”
The tiebreaker would be head-to-head record, with the Heat 2-0 against the Raptors and 1-0 against the Celtics going into Tuesday’s matchup.
First step
Heat forward Chris Silva closed with 13 points in 17:18 of action Friday night with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, in his first G League game. On assignment for a pair of weekend games, the undrafted forward out of South Carolina finished 6 of 8 from the field, with six rebounds and four blocked shots while playing as a reserve in the 130-109 victory over the visiting Rio Grande Vipers, the Houston Rockets’ affiliate.
Silva is scheduled to rejoin the Heat for Monday’s game against the Magic.