2 min read • March 03, 2022
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The Heat will miss 3 of their 5 regular starters on Thursday night against the Nets after the late news that Jimmy Butler is out with big toe irritation.
Butler joins Kyle Lowry, who misses his 3rd straight game for personal reasons, and P.J. Tucker with a sore knee.
These injuries have caused the Heat’s team health score to drop to 67.3.
The Heat have been able to plug-and-play with almost any piece of the roster, helping them to an admirable 12-7 record without Butler this season.
This is in stark contrast to the Nets' recent 5-16 stretch without their Kevin Durant, who will make his return tonight.
Neither of the 3 injuries are considered serious, and this serves as more of a night off for the 3 mid-30s veterans traveling on a back-to-back after a tough loss to the Bucks on Wednesday.
Butler struggled in the contest, scoring only 6 points with 3 rebounds and 2 assists on an abysmal 2-14 shooting.
Likely stepping into the starting lineup will be Caleb Martin, who will play while nursing a sore left achilles he has dealt with for much of the 2022 calendar year. Martin scored 12 points with 7 rebounds in 20 minutes last night.
Joining him will be Max Strus and Gabe Vincent to flank regular starters Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson, with Tyler Herro and DeWayne Dedmon seeing big minutes off the bench. Omer Yurtseven and Kyle Guy could see some run against the short-handed Nets as well.
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