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The Miami Heat saw the triumphant return of Bam Adebayo during Tuesday’s 113-98 win. He scored 14 points in what was the closest thing to a fully healthy lineup the team has had all year.
Then the other high top dropped. Quickly and tragically. Jimmy Butler twisted his right ankle late in the contest and exited after scoring a game-high 28 points. Butler traveled with the Heat to Memphis for Wednesday night’s game, but the star forward has been listed “questionable.”
The official injury report will be updated around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, roughly 90 minutes prior to tip-off. Miami has been red hot as of late, winners of five straight games and 11 of their last 12 — all thanks to Butler who has quietly emerged as a dark-horse candidate for MVP.
“That’s our superstar and he deserves everything he’s getting right now, all the love, all the attention,” Adebayo said. “He’s one of those dudes in this league, he’s a superstar but he gets under-looked and underrated. I want him to keep being Jim-VP.”
And not just due to his ability to put the Heat on his back offensively. He finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, two steals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. No, Butler is just as valuable on the defensive end of the floor.
“It just fits into our dynamic and the thing about JB is, this is who’s he’s always been,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He’s been the definition of a true two-way player and I think, in some ways, that’s getting lost in this league. You know, he can take on big matchups. He can be extremely disruptive, and you can build a rock-solid defense around him in your system, and the same goes for Bam — and Jimmy, you know we’ve needed every part of his two-way play these last two weeks.”
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Andre Iguodala, Moe Harkless Ruled Out
Butler might not be the only Heat player to miss Wednesday night’s game versus the Memphis Grizzlies. Andre Iguodala sat out the second half on Tuesday due to a sore left hip and has been ruled out. Ditto for Moe Harkless who has missed the last four games with an undisclosed illness. He hasn’t played since March 11 while seeing action just one in the team’s last 13 games.
Veteran guard Avery Bradley remains on the Heat injury report, too. The defensive specialist has missed 19 straight games with a right calf strain and may be on the trading block. He’s averaging 8.5 points and 1.4 assists in only 10 games so far this season.
“This has been a unique year for everybody and I think it’s been important to just embrace it for all the challenges it presents,” Spoelstra told reporters. “If you approach it that way, this is an exhilirating experience — to do this as a group together, you’re going to face a lot of adversity and when you’re able to overcome little, mini adversaries during the year you become closer.”
Adebayo Getting Back in the Flow
Meanwhile, Adebayo’s return seemed to light a fire under everybody on the Heat roster. He scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 30 minutes. Better yet, the one-time All-Star center showed no signs of rust or slowness from his left knee tendinitis.
“I’m back, just getting back into the flow, I haven’t played in what … two weeks?,” Adebayo said. “So this is real time, I really got to be live. It was just good to go through that experience. Like many of you know, I don’t like to miss games so that was probably the hardest part of this process.”
Adebayo also revealed that he and Butler have a fun game they play where they challenge each other to see who can get the most defensive stops. He called Butler’s competitive attitude “contagious,” adding that he thought he had more defensive stops on Tuesday night.
“I kind of try to challenge Jimmy, you know at the defensive end,” Adebayo said, “Like who can get the most stops between the two of us. So I don’t know who won today [versus Cleveland]. I don’t know if we counted this one, my first game back, but I think I won.”
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