The NBA play-in tournament has already taken its toll on the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and New Orleans Pelicans, all of whom suffered significant injuries earlier this week.
The Heat will be without star Jimmy Butler, who led them to the NBA Finals a year ago, but suffered an MCL injury that is expected to keep him out for weeks. The Pelicans will be without star Zion Williamson, who scored 40 points in his postseason debut Tuesday night, before suffering a hamstring injury that has knocked him out. And Bulls guard Alex Caruso was limited to 21 minutes after an ankle sprain, but is a game-time decision. Meanwhile, the Sacramento Kings got through their play-in game unscathed, but are dealing with multiple lineup altering injuries.
Despite all that, two of those teams will advance to the NBA playoffs with wins on Friday night, so here’s a look at what to know for these two play-in matchups.
Bulls at Heat, 7 p.m. ET
In a rematch from the 2023 play-in game, the Bulls and Heat will meet again in Miami for the 8-seed in the Eastern Conference. Chicago had a three-point lead with three minutes remaining in last year’s matchup before Miami ended the game on 15-1 surge, starting a postseason run to the NBA Finals. The two teams split their four meetings during the regular season.
How Jimmy Butler‘s injury changes things for Miami
To have any hopes of a deep playoff run or making it back to the Finals, the Heat were counting not only on Butler to be on the floor but to transform into “Playoff Jimmy,” who has become an annual spring tradition. Butler averaged 20 points on 50% shooting this season and he’s one of nine players (min. 100 playoff games) to have his career averages in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks increase in the playoffs. Since Butler’s first season in Miami in 2019-20, he has scored more playoff points than anyone in the NBA other than Boston Celtics‘ Jayson Tatum.
So the Heat face a tall task to replace him. Miami was able to salvage some regular-season wins without him, going 13-9 when Butler was absent, but it is not the same team. The Heat score 116.0 points per 100 possessions with Butler on the floor and 108.7 points per 100 possessions without him.
How Alex Caruso‘s injury…
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