The Miami Heat’s home game against the Memphis Grizzlies got off on a bad start, when Jimmy Butler missed a layup, fell on his back and remained down for several seconds. The Grizzlies raced to the other end and promptly scored to go up 14-4. Butler, who had missed Miami’s last four games with a tailbone contusion, had re-aggravated his injury.
The Heat’s best player stayed in the game, but checked out in the third quarter for good. He labored to get up and down the floor the rest of the way. With Bam Adebayo already out for several weeks, seeing Butler go down again was disheartening.