Heat's Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro issue defiant message after Jimmy Butler injury

11/09/2024 01:08 PM

Fans are concerned about the status of Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler as he left early in the loss to the Denver Nuggets Friday night, 135-122, due to what was diagnosed as a right ankle sprain. While Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra provided a murky update about Butler, stars Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro sent an uplifting message to the rest of the team in fighting through adversity.

Butler would suffer the injury in the first quarter after he attempted to drive on Nuggets guard Jamal Murray where when stopping abruptly in his tracks to gain an advantage, he turned his ankle. He would go to the ground visibly in pain, and after staying in for a few more possessions, the 35-year-old went to the locker room after being subbed out and wouldn’t return.

Jimmy Butler has gone to the locker room after suffering an apparent injury pic.twitter.com/MRUuwvOcar

— HEAT on FanDuel Sports Network (@FanDuelSN_Heat) November 9, 2024

As Adebayo is considered to be a cornerstone of the Heat, he is also the captain of the team and has seen firsthand the hurdles they have been through in the past that have resulted in success. He would emphasize the importance of the team not losing any confidence with the injury to Butler, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

"Stay together," Adebayo said. "When people go through stretches like this, everybody starts falling apart, everybody wants to do their own thing because they think that's going to be the recipe for success. For us, we got to stay together through the good and the bad."

Heat’s Tyler Herro on “next-man-up mentality” after Jimmy Butler injury

While Butler’s status is unknown, one player that will be taking up some offensive usage is star Tyler Herro, who has been impressive to start the season. Once the Heat star’s role was uncertain due to fan speculation, but he is a key to the team’s offense in 2024, as he mentioned the mindset that they need to have if Butler were to miss an extended period of time.

"We don't have an answer on Jimmy yet that I know of," Herro said. "But it's always next-man-up mentality. We've dealt with injuries and different guys being out, me being one of them. It's always a next-man-up mentality."

Heat have played without Jimmy Butler before

In Friday’s loss to Miami’s 2023 NBA Finals opponent, Herro led the team with 24 points to go along with seven rebounds and a whopping 11 assists, which matches a regular season career-high for the University of Kentucky product. In fact, the 24-year-old leads the team in points through eight games at 22.9 per game.

The team has played without Butler before, as the star has missed a significant amount of time each year where he played 60 games last season, even missing the entirety of the NBA Playoffs with an MCL sprain. Heat president Pat Riley was non-committal on a contract extension for the dynamic playmaker due to player availability.

Another bright spot from Friday’s loss in Denver was Heat guard Duncan Robinson, who scored 20 points on seven for 12 shooting, including six of 10 from beyond the arch. The three-point shooting specialist would say that the team has overcome obstacles before, as the team needs to be more consistent.

"We got to figure it out," Miami’s Duncan Robinson said. "This group has got to figure it out. We got some good stretches defensively. You got to learn how to win. You've got guys that have done it before. It's just not going to come automatically."

Heat making roster changes with Jimmy Butler injury

While it has not been confirmed as of yet, the team would have to change up roster rotations if Butler were to be out, which is what took place Friday. Though it started in the loss to the Suns Wednesday night, the Heat would bench Nikola Jovic in the second half in place for Haywood Highsmith, which happened again Friday as head coach Erik Spoelstra looked to change it up since the team was down double-digits at halftime.

"He knows the deal," Spoelstra said about benching Jovic in the second half the past two games. "Look, I'm not going to change the standards. He knows what the deal is. It has to be a level of energy and effort, make an impact. It's not just him. That's an easy target.”

"If something is not working, I'm paid to make decisions and go to something else,” Spoelstra continued. “And that's not always an indictment on anybody. The best way to stay out there is impact the win, impact the game, impact the scoreboard, for anybody. If things are going well, guys will rock, they'll continue to play."

Besides Jovic, Spoelstra would opt to use second-round pick and rookie Pelle Larsson in the place of the injured Butler as he continues to get meaningful minutes the past several games. More changeups should be incoming as the Heat expect Jaime Jaquez Jr. back from a stomach illness and even Kevin Love, who has missed the entire season due to “personal reasons,” but is now ramping back up through conditioning.

Heat’s Tyler Herro says they are made to overcome adversity

The Heat are used to dealing with a plethora of injuries as the team last season used 35 different starting lineups and even started 1-4. Now, the team is 3-5 through eighth games and is amid a three-game losing streak while they are still on a six-game road trip that doesn’t get any easier.

However, Herro is up for the challenge along with the rest of the team, which defines their culture as he describes the team as having their “backs against the wall.” There have been many instances where the Heat have been considered underdogs and still defied expectations, like in 2023 where amidst injuries and finishing as the eighth seed, they went all the way to the NBA Finals.

"This is what we're built for — backs against the wall," Herro said. "We've lost three straight. We've been in a lot of games that we've lost. We just got to figure out a way to sustain it for 48 minutes. … We just got to continue to stick with it and keep our spirits high. It's early in the season and we just got to keep working hard."

Heat’s Erik Spoelstra speaks on what he loves about this challenge

While fans are concerned about the state of the team involving the injury to Butler, the team almost has an excited factor about them. Not that their star is injured, but they have the opportunity to prove to overcome the challenges and as Spoelstra explains via The Miami Herald, how they “rally around each other.”

"That's what I love about this league," Spoelstra said. "You can pay as much money as you want, you can earn as much money as you want, you have to earn wins in this league. We're in a tough stretch right now, but this is the part you have to love — about how you can rally around the challenge, rally around each other and rally around doing tough things to earn wins."

The Heat are 3-5 which puts them 10th in the Eastern Conference as while they await any update regarding the injury to Butler, they have a date with a Western Conference team in the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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