Heat star Jimmy Butler has sprained ligament in knee, will be sidelined several weeks
Associated PressMIAMI — The results are in: Jimmy Butler is out. Butler will not be able to play for the Miami Heat in a win-or-else game on Friday night against the Chicago Bulls in the NBA’s play-in tournament because of a right knee injury, one that will sideline him for several weeks. That means if Miami wins Friday, it still won’t have Butler for a Round 1 playoff matchup with the Boston Celtics — a daunting matchup even if Butler was healthy. “We will do this the hard way,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said in Philadelphia on Wednesday night, when Butler played most of the game after getting hurt and Miami lost 105-104 — missing out on a chance to be the No. His mobility appeared to get worse as the game went along, and Spoelstra said postgame that Butler’s knee kept getting stiffer and stiffer.