The Miami Heat pulled off a gutsy road win at Madison Square Garden this afternoon. Jimmy Butler, who was their top scorer once again, had to deal with an inadvertent ankle injury.
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The Knicks started the game off by dominating the Miami paint and locking their own region down. Miami only had 4 points in the paint during the first quarter amidst a sturdy performance by Mitchell Robinson.
Jimmy Butler also started the game off slowly, accumulating only 8 points until halftime. However, he came alive during the 3rd quarter as Miami made a run. Much of their scoring impetus came via outlet passes from Kevin Love to Jimmy for 3 consecutive transition buckets.
As the game turned on its head, the Knicks’ torrid shooting came to the fore. They went down by 8 points at the start of the 4th quarter after possessing a double-digit first half lead.
The Knicks tried to stage comebacks of their own through several attempts in the 4th quarter, but to no avail. Miami held on to their lead – mainly by getting into the bonus as early as the 7:36 mark of the period.
Jimmy Butler suffered an ankle injury in the 4th quarter
Jimmy Butler got bowled over as he attempted to attack the paint against the Knicks’ Josh Hart. As Hart went down on the floor, he managed to inadvertently trip up Butler.
Butler landed awkwardly on his ankle, and immediately signaled that he didn’t feel physically right. Erik Spoelstra signaled a timeout, but the damage had been done.
Jimmy hit the ensuing free throws, but was relegated to being a spectator on the Heat offense for the rest of the game. Luckily for him, they held on to their lead, even increasing it to double digits at one point.
Butler sat down for the final few moments of the game with the Heat win secured. He later clarified that he’d only suffered a rolled ankle. Depending on the seriousness of his injury, he should be back on the floor for Game 2.
The Heat are likely, however, to carry out an MRI scan to ensure that all is good with his ankle long-term.
