Heat's Jimmy Butler leaves first quarter, leads to loss over OKC

12/20/2024 10:29 PM

MIAMI – It was a frustrating Friday night as while Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler left the game with an illness, the team would end up losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night, 104-97. While rumors surrounding Butler and a possible Heat trade still linger, the focus now will be on his health and what that means for the upcoming schedule.

Tyler Herro would lead the team with 28 points and 12 rebounds while Bam Adebayo had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Butler would record only seven minutes with two assists, not even attempting a shot.

Here are three takeaways from the Heat’s loss against the Thunder on Friday night:

Jimmy Butler leaves first half, Bam Adebayo and Tyler leading Heat

Miami and Oklahoma City would have a back-and-forth affair until the tides changed for the home team when a turnover led to Butler colliding with Luguentz Dort, looking to have twisted and hurt his ankle. He would limp off the floor, go to the bench, and ask for something from a team trainer before he headed straight to the locker room with 4:41 left in the first quarter.

It would be announced on the team’s official X, formerly Twitter, account that Butler would miss the rest of the game, but it would not be because of any type of leg injury, but because he was “feeling ill.” No doubt it was a turn of events as it would be later reported by NBA insider Chris Haynes that he has a “stomach bug.” He would leave the game without taking a shot.

With all the news surrounding trade rumors involving the Heat and Butler, add that with another issue of an illness, the team wouldn’t back down in the first half without their best player. Miami would trail by just three at halftime while it would be rough sledding without Butler at first as Oklahoma City led by as much as nine points, they started to find some groove on both sides of the ball in the second period.

Heat star Nikola Jovic would act as a spark plug once again, scoring seven points in eight minutes mixed with solid performances from Herro and Adebayo. Miami shot 42.9 percent from the field and five of 20 from deep as Thunder shot 47.6 percent from the field and eight of 20 from three-point range.

Heat dealt with more adversity in the second half

As the Heat had to deal with Butler being unable to return to the game, they almost dealt with the same fate with their other star Adebayo who went to the locker room after getting an elbow to the face. However, he would come back to the team’s bench with 4:17 left in the third quarter as Miami announced that he had a “cut above his left eye and is receiving stitches.”

Seven stitches in fact as he came back into the game as already with one star down, Adebayo didn’t want to make that two, though Herro was once again impressive in a huge game. At one point, the team would have a hot stretch where they took a one-point lead with under eight minutes left in the third even with Butler and Adebayo off the floor.

However, Oklahoma City would use their strengths to further control the game and have their largest lead of 11 at the end of the third period. Gilgeous-Alexander would excel in the frame with 13 points as he along with star teammate Jalen Williams would combine for 54 of the team’s 98 points when there were just over three minutes left in the game.

Miami would not go down without a fight in the fourth quarter, even dwindling the deficit to five points at one moment, but the Thunder would close it out with enough offense from their stars. Gilgeous-Alexander finished 25 points as Williams had a game-high 33 points.

The backbreaking statistic was that the Heat had committed 19 turnovers which led to a whopping 27 points for the other side.

Heat finish back-to-back, have a tough road schedule with Butler question

The loss by the team no doubt hurts for several reasons as it’s the first game of the weekend’s back-to-back where there were several missed opportunities against a top-seeded team in the Thunder. The other deals with the Heat’s main star in Butler amidst trade rumors that no doubt will amplify with the absence as though he looked to twist his ankle, he was gone with an illness.

The short-term question is if with the illness, will Butler be able to play the night after against the Orlando Magic as the team looks to get back in a win column. The Heat looked to make a turning point with the prior four-game winning streak as the goal is to not lose that momentum, but the defeats to the Detroit Pistons last Monday and now Friday to the Thunder stall it for now.

Including Saturday’s game against Orlando, the Heat are on the road for the next four of five games with the exception of next Monday against the Brooklyn Nets. Fans no doubt want to hear good news about Butler in the foreseeable future.

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