Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler out with knee injury; Herro returns

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Miami Heat small forward Jimmy Butler will miss Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks with right knee inflammation, the team disclosed about two hours before tipoff.

But Tyler Herro is back for Sunday’s game after missing three games with a hip injury. And Bam Adebayo, who was probable with knee tendinosis, also will play.

The Heat is 3-9 without Butler this season and 13-8 with him. He previously said that he contracted COVID-19 earlier this season, causing him to miss 10 games.

“He went through shoot-around and it didn’t loosen up way we wanted it to,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We wanted to be pro-active about it. He’ll be day to day from here.”

Spoelstra called it a “minor thing.”

There is optimism he will return before the All Star break, but that’s not certain.

Butler is averaging 20.1 points and career highs in rebounds (7.8) and assists (also 7.8).

During the Heat’s ongoing 9-3 stretch, Butler has averaged 21.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 9.1 assists and 1.8 steals. Miami has outscored opponents by 9.1 points per 100 possessions with Butler on the court and has been outscored by 10.3 points per 100 possessions when Butler has not been on the court during this 12-game span.

Goran Dragic replaced Butler in the Heat’s starting lineup, alongside Adebayo, Kelly Olynyk, Duncan Robinson and Kendrick Nunn.

Spoelstra said Herro - who sustained a hip contusion last Saturday night against the Lakers - “has put in some solid days. [The hip is] much different than it was two days ago. The most important thing was how did he respond at shootaround. He went through a full shootaround so he’ll be ready.”

Spoelstra said “if there’s any group of guys that can go through this... handling adversity, it’s this group. Our guys have handled it admirably.”

The Heat entered Sunday’s game at 16-17 and on a five-game winning streak.

“The beauty of their team is team, the culture,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said. “They’re one of the top teams in ball movement. They’re the top team in assisted field goals. They lose a key component, but how they play remains the same. We’ll have our hands full regardless. You take out Jimmy, add Tyler, you have to chase these guys around.”