Heat Star Jimmy Butler Takes Crucial Step as Playoff Race Heats Up

Getty Jimmy Butler and Erik Spoelstra look on during a game between the Miami Heat and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Jimmy Butler quite literally took his game to a higher level during the waning moments of the Miami Heat-Houston Rockets affair on Friday night, gobbling up a near-perfect lob pass from an inbounding Gabe Vincent and jamming it home to secure a 97-95 win.

That notch in the W column was a big one for the Heat, who moved back to within two and a half games of the fifth-place Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference standings while putting another full game between themselves and the seventh-place New York Knicks, who had just dropped a game in Philly.

Cruelly, though, the banged-up Heat were tasked with battling their scrappy intrastate rivals, the Orlando Magic, the very next night.

And while back-to-back situations can be difficult to navigate, Miami got some unexpected help on this particular occasion. Butler, who hadn’t participated in both ends of a back-to-back since the season’s opening days, was in uniform and playing for the second straight night.

Jimmy Butler’s Ability to Play in Back-to-Backs for the Heat Could Affect the Playoff Race

As ever, the injury report entering the Heat’s Saturday turn with the Magic was a rough one for a club looking to finagle its way back into the upper half of the playoff bracket.

Kyle Lowry (left knee soreness), Nikola Jovic (lower back stress reaction), Victor Oladipo (right ankle sprain), Duncan Robinson (finger surgery), Udonis Haslem (not with team) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle) were all scratched from the contest. Meanwhile, Tyler Herro (lower back contusion) and Haywood Highsmith (right elbow sprain) gutted it out in spite of their own injuries.

One name that wasn’t on the list, though, was Butler’s. And while that was a big deal where Miami’s opportunity to win the game was concerned, it’s perhaps an even bigger deal for the team’s title hopes.

Make no mistake, one of the most important abilities for an NBA player to have is availability. Before the Magic game, October 26-27 was the last time Butler had played in both halves of a back-to-back set. His doing so against the Magic may indicate that he’s finally settling into a place where he can be the night-in, night-out presence the Heat need amid their title chase.

Through 41 appearances for the Heat this season, Butler is averaging 21.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists and a league-best 2.1 steals per contest.

Heat Take a Hit in Latest Power Rankings

While the Heat are firmly in the competition for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, they’ve yet to distance themselves from the other middle-tier teams. In the latest edition of Bleacher Report‘s NBA power rankings (published Friday), the team dropped to No. 12 after having been eighth the previous week.

Nevertheless, B/R’s Andy Bailey went fairly soft on the team in his write-up, their unexciting trade deadline notwithstanding:

There had been plenty of rumors about the possibility of Kyle Lowry being moved, but the Miami Heat wound up sitting out deadline day.

And while the bench probably could’ve used an upgrade, it’s not that difficult to justify keeping the team’s three highest-paid players together.

After Wednesday’s win in which Bam Adebayo dropped 38 points on the Indiana Pacers, the Heat are now plus-5.4 points per 100 possessions when Lowry, Adebayo and Jimmy Butler are all on the floor.