Jimmy Butler out for Game 5 against Atlanta tonight

Led 3-1 in their series against Miami, the Hawks are on the brink before Game 5 tonight in Florida. But some unexpected news has just given Atlanta fans extra hope. Jimmy Butler, in boss mode in recent outings, will not play.

Kyle Lowry won’t be the only Heat mainstay watching his buddies from the sidelines tonight. At his side, he will therefore have Jimmy Butler. According to Shams Charania of The Athleticthe star of Miami actually suffers from inflammation in the right knee, and must therefore leave his place for this already playoff game knowing that the Heat lead 3-1 against Atlanta. Did this fairly clear advantage in the series cause the Florida franchise to rest Jimmy as a precaution? Or is it a more serious problem? Difficult to answer this hot question but in any case it is the last episode in a season marked by a lot of absences for Butler. The Florida winger still missed 25 games in total during the 2021-22 campaign, and this 26th falls at a time when Jimmy chained the Buckets against the Hawks: 45 points in Game 2, 36 in Game 4, each times to guide Miami to the win, as much to say that the Playoffs mode has been activated at Butler. So without him on the pitch, it’s bound to be an opportunity that opens up for the Hawks, forced to bring back a win from Sud Plage tonight to extend their season a little longer. It may be the twist of fate that the Trae Young band needed to find a second wind after suffering a lot against the Florida defense.

With a Jimmy Butler on the bench, the entire Erik Spoelstra collective will have to step-up to compensate for the loss of production linked to the absence of JB. But first, we’ll keep a close eye on Tyler Herro. Because if he is having a little trouble getting into his Playoffs overall (only 12 points on average at 36% in shooting, including 21% from afar), the future Sixth Man of the Year is typically the kind of guy to take advantage of the OCCAZ to catch fire and put the lid on the series. To put it another way, we expect him to come out with a performance of the same caliber as that of Game 3 in Atlanta, when he finished with 24 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. In addition to Tyler, the Heat also have other options that can do the job offensively on the outside positions, from Max Strus to Duncan Robinson and possibly Victor Oladipo. Who knows, maybe the latter will take advantage of Butler’s absence to give us a vintage perf after returning to Erik Spoelstra’s rotation during the last game in Atlanta. It would be a nice little story to wrap up the series, especially after the recent rumors launched by a certain Skip Bayless who said that Jimmy didn’t want Victor in the team.

No Jimmy Butler tonight for Game 5, the Hawks take advantage of this unexpected opportunity to try to snatch a victory and thus bring the series back to Atlanta. But be careful, Butler or not, the Heat have what it takes to finish the job and given the overall defensive level currently displayed by the Floridians, we would not be surprised if the series ends tonight.

Source texte : The Athletic