The Golden State Warriors defeated the Miami Heat 135-112 on Monday night, improving to 25-19 on the season and 11-4 over the team’s past 15 games. They continued climbing in the standings, hoping to escape the play-in. Yet, all that success became a moot point when Jimmy Butler III’s right knee bent in the wrong direction after he landed awkwardly catching a pass in the third quarter.
Butler screamed in pain, collapsed, and laid on the floor for several minutes as he was surrounded by his teammates. He had to be helped off the floor by Buddy Hield and Jonathan Kuminga while he put no weight on his right knee. Regardless of the game’s outcome, no event on Monday has more of an impact on the Warriors championship prospects than Butler’s prognosis. But a best case scenario will likely sideline him for weeks, and a worst-case could end his season.
The Warriors were able to withstand a collapse for the moment after Butler’s exit. Steph Curry seemed to calm the team’s nerves with a step back three and a continued stretch of hot shooting helped the Warriors head into the fourth quarter with a 104-93 lead.
With Golden State already missing Butler and Draymond Green (who didn’t play due to an ankle sprain) for the final quarter, Curry was quickly pushed to the bench after unnecessarily picking up his fifth foul. Yet, for the second time in his Dubs tenure, Buddy Hield stepped up in a game when a star went down with an injury.
The Warriors season hangs in the balance, outside the confines of the court for the moment, but a scoring spurt from Hield and an explosion from Brandin Podziemski propelled Golden State to a 24-point lead that allowed Curry to rest for the remainder of the game. Hield scored 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the field (4-for-7 from three) while Podziemski scored a game-high 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting (3-for-7 from three).
Nearly everyone on the Warriors who played on Monday played well. Butler had 17 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals before he got hurt in 20 minutes of action. Quinten Post and Moses Moody combined for 28 points while shooting 7-for-11 from three. Even in a relatively quite night from Curry, he recorded 19 points and 11 assists.
The Warriors will get little time to reset without Butler. They will be back on the floor for the second half of a back-to-back tomorrow night when they face the Toronto Raptors.
