Heat lose All-star Butler to sprained MCL
MIAMI — The results are in: Jimmy Butler is out.
Butler will not be able to play for the Miami Heat in a win-or-else game on Friday night against the Chicago Bulls in the NBA’S play-in tournament because of a right knee injury, one that will sideline him for several weeks.
An MRI exam on Thursday showed that he sprained the MCL ligament, an injury that typically takes at least four weeks or more to heal.
That means if Miami wins Friday, it still won’t have Butler for a Round 1 playoff matchup with the Boston Celtics — a daunting matchup even if Butler was healthy. Boston, the top playoff overall seed, finished 18 games ahead of Miami and went 3-0 against the Heat in the regular season.
“We will do this the hard way,” Heat coach Erik 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 path gets much harder now for the reigning Eastern Conference champions.
Butler was injured in the first quarter of the game in Philadelphia, grabbing at the knee in obvious pain and limping throughout the remainder of the contest — but staying in the game most of the way. He played 40 minutes, finishing with 19 points, four rebounds, five assists and five steals.
Butler’s absence on Friday will only add to serious injury issues for the Heat.
Miami has been without starting point guard Terry Rozier for two weeks because of a neck injury, and will play without him again on Friday, while shooting guard Duncan Robinson has missed 10 of Miami’s last 15 games with a back problem and has struggled when he has played.
White leads Bulls in rout of Hawks
Coby White scored a career-high 42 points, and the Chicago Bulls advanced in the play-in tournament, knocking out the Atlanta Hawks with a 131-116 victory on Wednesday night in Chicago.
White, whose previous high was 37, went hard at the rim throughout the game and had fans chanting his name down the stretch as the Bulls rolled past the Hawks.
Dejounte Murray led Atlanta with 30 points. But the Hawks came up short again after dropping their final six regular-season games.
Nikola Vucevic had 24 points and 12 rebounds for Chicago. Demar Derozan finished with 22 points and nine assists.
Female referee first since 2012
Ashley Moyer-gleich checked her email just before heading to the airport on Saturday for a trip to what she thought would be her final game of the season.
That’s when the news came in: She has more games to do.
Moyer-gleich will soon become only the second woman in NBA history to referee a playoff game. She was one of 36 referees announced by the league Thursday as its referee selections for Round 1 of the playoffs starting this weekend.
She joins Violet Palmer as the only women picked by the NBA for a playoff assignment. Palmer worked nine playoff games between 2006 and 2012.