The Miami Heat may have to deploy a new starting lineup for the second game in a row.
Jimmy Butler will miss his second consecutive game when the Miami Heat take on the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night.
Butler hurt his right ankle early in Friday’s road loss to the Denver Nuggets and missed Sunday’s road win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Butler missed his first game of the regular season.
Jimmy Butler will miss his second consecutive game with a sprained right ankle.
There is no timetable for Butler’s return, but he has stayed with the club on the road rather than returning to Miami, raising the prospect of a comeback before the end of the trip.
Following Tuesday’s game in Detroit, the Heat will finish their six-game trip with two games against the Indiana Pacers on Friday and Sunday.
“He is just focused on rehab and doing anything he can to get back out there,” Spoelstra explained. “We do not have a timeline right now.”
Decisions on the starting lineup
Everyone else on the Heat’s roster is healthy, including Kevin Love, who made his season debut in Sunday’s triumph after missing the first several games due to personal circumstances. Jaime Jaquez Jr. also returned from a stomach sickness during that game.
Without Butler, the Heat’s starting lineup consisted of Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith, Love, and Bam Adebayo. It is uncertain whether Spoelstra would employ the same lineup for back-to-back games on Tuesday, or whether he will choose his starting lineup depending on matchups.
It made sense to start Adebayo and Love against Minnesota’s larger lineup, but the Pistons open games smaller, so Nikola Jovic may return to the starting lineup after a strong performance off the bench on Sunday.
