Heat faces possibility of playing Game 2 without Jimmy Butler. Knicks stars also on injury report

The Miami Heat is preparing for the possibility of having to play a playoff game without its best player.

Star Jimmy Butler has not yet been ruled out for Game 2 of the Heat’s second-round playoff series against the New York Knicks on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, but his status is certainly up in the air after he sprained his right ankle late in the Heat’s Game 1 win in New York on Sunday. Butler is listed as questionable for the contest.

“Same as [Sunday],” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said to reporters Monday at the team’s New York hotel when asked for an update on Butler’s injured ankle. “He’s doing treatment around the clock. We probably won’t have any update until before the game.”

Butler turned his ankle on a drive to the basket while making contract and drawing a foul on Knicks guard Josh Hart with 5:05 left in the fourth quarter of Game 1. Butler remained down on the court in pain for a few minutes before getting up and limping to the bench.

Butler stayed in the game after tweaking his ankle until he was subbed out with 23.6 seconds to play, when the Heat was already well on its way to the victory. But Butler was clearly limited by the injury in the final minutes of Game 1, hobbling around the court and standing stationary in the corner for most of the Heat’s offensive sets down the stretch.

Butler, who did not address reporters following Sunday’s win or during Monday’s off day availability, closed Game 1 with a team-leading 25 points and 11 rebounds in 44 minutes. He made both free throws immediately after injuring his ankle, but did not record a single point, rebound or assist in the final five minutes of Sunday’s win as he played through the pain.

Losing Butler for any amount of time this postseason would be a big blow for the Heat. He averaged 35.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.8 steals while shooting 58.5 percent from the field in the Heat’s first six playoff games.

“You have to prep for both just because you never know,” Heat forward Caleb Martin said of the possibility of playing without Butler on Tuesday. “Knowing Jimmy, he might mess around and try to play or whatever. We don’t know yet, so we’ll see what type of shape he’s in with that ankle. But we’ll be ready for whatever.”

Butler only missed one game this season — a Dec. 26 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves — with a sprained right ankle but has battled through various right ankle sprains during his time with the Heat.

Butler missed seven games because of a sprained right ankle during the 2021-22 regular season and four games because of a sprained right ankle during the 2020-21 regular season. He did not need to miss time due to a sprained right ankle in his first season with the Heat during the 2019-20 campaign.

Of Butler’s six separate absences stemming from a right ankle sprain since he joined the Heat, four have been multigame absences but he has never been forced to miss more than three straight games because of the injury.

The good news for the Heat and Butler is there’s a three-day break between Games 2 and 3 of the second-round series. If Butler is forced to miss Game 2 on Tuesday, he would get nearly a week to rest his ankle before Game 3 on Saturday in Miami.

The Heat went 9-9 in games that Butler missed this regular season.

“I think we’re in a situation where we’ve been in this type of situation the last couple of years, guys being injured, in and out, but that’s why you build a team,” Heat guard Kyle Lowry said. “You don’t build a one-player roster. You build a 17-man roster, a 15-man roster, for guys to be able to step up. If he goes, he goes. If not, shoot, we’ve got to find a way to just go out there and do it our way, still.”

The Heat has already spent nearly its entire playoff run without one of its usual starters after starting guard Tyler Herro broke his right hand in Game 1 of the first round on April 16. Herro is not expected to return until the NBA Finals, at the earliest, if the Heat makes it that far.

The Heat will also be without reserve guard Victor Oladipo for the rest of the playoffs after he tore the patellar tendon in his left knee in the first round.

In addition, the Heat listed forward Haywood Highsmith on the injury report for Game 2. Highsmith is probable with left knee tendinitis.

Meanwhile, the Knicks are dealing with their own injury issues. All-Star forward Julius Randle, who led the Knicks in scoring in the regular season, missed Game 1 on Sunday because of a sprained left ankle and is questionable for Game 2 on Tuesday.

Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, who scored 25 points in Game 1, is also listed as questionable for Game 2 because of a sore right ankle.

“That’s why you just have to focus on doing your prep,” Spoelstra said of the uncertainty surrounding the availability of some of the series’ stars. “We’ll do our prep for both, we’ll prepare our team the best that we possibly can and just get ready for hard-nosed competition. At the end of the day, there’s a bunch of story lines, narratives about this or that. It is just great competition and each game presents a different challenge.”

The Heat has far more experience than the Knicks in playing short-handed this season. The Heat ended this regular season with the second-most missed games in the NBA (289) due to injury while the Knicks closed this regular season with the second-fewest missed games (113) due to injury, according to Spotrac.

“It certainly feels a little bit more like the norm for our basketball team,” Spoelstra said when asked about the possibility of playing without two starters in Game 2. “Whether that’s better or worse, we’ve been able to compartmentalize and have different guys step up.

“I think there was probably far too much criticism about our regular season, when we found a beauty in the struggle and a beauty in working through a lot of adversity. The group would just continue to come back the next day and try to find ways to get better. We need contributions from everybody at different times in each of these games during the playoffs.”