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The Miami Heat could be without Jimmy Butler for their Christmas Day match-up against the New Orleans Pelicans tomorrow. Miami listed Butler as questionable to play due to a sprained right ankle.
Jimmy Butler (sprained right ankle) is listed as questionable on the 5:30 p.m. injury report for tomorrow's Christmas Day game against the Pelicans. Gabe Vincent (right knee procedure) also questionable.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) December 24, 2020
A couple of times during the Heat’s season opener at the Orlando Magic, Butler appeared to injure his ankle after a drive to the hoop and walk gingerly for a moment. After the game, the 10-year veteran credited the Magic “stepping on my ankle” for making just six trips to the foul line. Last year, Butler took more than nine free throw attempts per game.
Jimmy Butler on what Magic did to slow him getting to the line. “They stepped on my ankle” adds he is not using it as an excuse but they didn’t do anything special to keep him from the free throw line pic.twitter.com/MmGoeXGM1A
— Brendan Tobin (@Brendan_Tobin) December 24, 2020
Early in the fourth quarter, the referees initially awarded Butler with a potential three-point play after making a baseline jumper. But Magic coach Steve Clifford challenged the call, and the referees took away the foul while still counting the made basket.
Throughout last season, Butler suffered from some nagging injuries that caused him to miss some games here and there. That included an injury during the seeding games in the NBA bubble, and Miami suffered some losses against below-.500 teams in Butler’s absence. Hopefully Butler has better luck this season.
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