Heat's Erik Spoelstra Won't Talk Jimmy Butler Injury: Do You Want Me to Get Beat Up?
Jimmy Butler suffered a sprained ankle during the second round of the playoffs but told reporters on Tuesday that his ankle was "fine" and had "zero" impact on his ability to perform during the rest of the postseason.
On Wednesday, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra echoed a similar sentiment:
"You setting me up for a physical altercation?" Spoelstra joked after being asked if Butler's ankle injury affected his play. "No, he was fine. There's no excuses. There's an honor to the way Jimmy competes at this game that you have to absolutely admire and respect."
Still, it's hard to ignore that Butler's scoring went from 37.6 points per game in the first round of the playoffs to 24.6 points per contest in the second round, 24.7 points per game in the Eastern Conference Finals and just 21.6 points per contest in the NBA Finals.
Butler, 33, has always been just inconsistent enough as a scorer to keep him from breaking into the very elite echelon of superstars in the NBA. But after his heroics against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, the drop-off in scoring was hard to ignore, and perhaps his ankle played a bigger part than either he or Spoelstra were willing to admit.
