Miami Heat's Jimmy Butler `OK' After Rolling Ankle in Loss to Phoenix Suns
As if a 20-point loss wasn't enough, the Miami Heat felt like they had lost a lot more late in Tuesday's game against the Phoenix Suns.
The Heat fell 106-86, but feared they lost more when Jimmy Butler went down with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter. Afterward, Butler said it was no big deal and expects to be available for Wednesday's game against the Denver Nuggets.
“I rolled my ankle,” Butler said. “But I’ll be OK.”
The Heat led by many as 13 in the first half before the Suns took control. The Suns were keyed by 65 bench points, keyed by Cam Payne's 14 points and seven assists. Butler led the Heat with 18 points while Duncan Robinson added 15.
“They’re a very good defense,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the Suns. "They did that similarly to us in Miami. Got us out of our normal flow, flattened us out a little bit. Things started to slow down and we held on to the ball too much.”
Still, the Heat have won six of eight entering the third of a four-game road trip.
“I feel like we didn’t play together like we should have,” center Bam Adebayo said. “When we’re playing together everybody is involved, everybody’s in rhythm. And today I feel like a lot of times we were playing hero ball instead of trying to move the defense.”
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