"Do you want me to get beat up?"- Erik Spoelstra says he is not ready to give any excuses for Jimmy Butler's ankle injury
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has reflected on Jimmy Butler's ankle injury during the playoffs and hysterically denied using it as an excuse for the team's finals loss. Butler refused to blame his ankle injury for his poor outing, and Spoelstra knew he would be playing with fire if he didn't stick with Butler's explanation.
"Zero. My ankle is fine," said Butler after the Game 5 loss. "We just didn't win. There's no excuse. They [Nuggets] outplayed us."
Jimmy Butler asked about how much he’s been affected by his ankle:
“Zero. My ankle’s fine. We just didn’t win, there’s no excuse. They beat us.”
(via @BradyHawk305) https://t.co/VqLEK29dZz
During his exit interview, Spoelstra had a hilarious reaction when reporters asked him the same question about Butler's injury and if it limited the Heat's chances. Here's what he said (via WPLG Local 10 Sports):
"Do you want me to get beat up by Jimmy [Butler] right now? You're setting me up for a physical altercation. No, he's fine. There's no excuses."
Spoelstra then reflected on the competitive fire that Butler ignited within the Heat locker room during the playoff run and lauded him for it, saying:
"There's an honor to the way Jimmy competes at this game that you've to absolutely admire and respect and that same honor is what this locker room was about..."
Erik Spoelstra won't make any excuses about Jimmy Butler's injury... tinyurl.com/3hfyu5ye?utm_s… https://t.co/0EGNxpWT2j
The Miami Heat went on a fairytale run to the finals. They nearly got edged in the play-in tournament.
After losing the seventh-seed game to the Atlanta Hawks, the Heat were down by double digits in the fourth quarter of the eighth-seed game against the Chicago Bulls. From there on, they started their resurgence and didn't look back, becoming the first play-in team and the second eighth seed to make the finals in league history.
As their leader, Jimmy Butler was the focal point of this remarkable yet unpredictable run. He brought the fight, and the locker room followed him. The Miami Heat ended up as the grittiest team in the 2023 playoffs, which was a crucial ingredient of their unprecedented success.
Whether Jimmy Butler and Erik Spoelstra agree or not, the former's injury played a part in the Heat's struggles
Jimmy Butler produced one all-time outing after another against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs. The Heat's MVP averaged 37.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game that series, shooting on 60/44/71 splits across those five games.
Butler was aggressive and on the attack at all times. However, that changed once he sustained an ankle injury against the New York Knicks. It seemed like a painful roll from when he suffered that blow, forcing him to miss Game 2 of that series.
Jimmy Butler hurt his ankle with 5:05 to go. He stayed in for the rest of the game to stand in the corner and do nothing as a decoy.
The Knicks lost those minutes by four points. 😳
https://t.co/AKWqwWHRGq
From Game 3 against the Knicks onwards, Butler's averages dropped to 23.7 points on 42/32/84 splits for the rest of the postseason. He didn't look explosive for the rest of the playoffs and seemed to run out of gas against the Denver Nuggets after a gruesome 11-game stretch against the Knicks and the Celtics.
There are no guarantees that the Heat could've won against the Nuggets with a healthy Jimmy Butler, but his impact would've likely been more impactful, and the Heat would've been able to give Denver a run for their money.