Heat’s Jimmy Butler Posts Message To 76ers’ Kelly Oubre Jr. After NBA Play-In Injury

Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler had a message for Kelly Oubre Jr. of the Philadelphia 76ers following their matchup in Wednesday’s Eastern Conference play-in tournament.

Butler suffered an injury during Miami’s 105-104 loss to the 76ers when Oubre fell on his leg during a play. While he finished the contest, Miami announced Thursday that he will miss Friday’s game against the Chicago Bulls because of a right MCL sprain.

The six-time All-Star commented on the Heat Instagram post announcing the injury diagnosis by saying, “Kelly Oubre we throwing hands.”

The injury means NBA fans may not see Butler take the floor again until next season.

After all, the season is over for the loser of Friday’s matchup between the Heat and Bulls. Miami is at home, but it will have a difficult time generating offense without Butler and Terry Rozier, who is also sidelined by a neck injury.

Even if the Heat win, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reported Butler is expected to be out for several weeks.

Perhaps Miami can win a single-elimination game at home without its best player against a mediocre Bulls team, but defeating the top-seeded Boston Celtics without him would be an entirely different story.

Despite the injury, Butler played 40 minutes against the 76ers and finished with 19 points, five assists, five steals and four rebounds. Yet he struggled with his shot at just 5-of-18 from the field and was clearly limited by the setback.

Tyler Herro did what he could with 25 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the 76ers, who received a double-double of 23 points, 15 rebounds and five assists from Joel Embiid. Nicolas Batum also provided a spark off the bench with 20 points, five rebounds and one block.

That one block was one of the most important plays of the game, as he swatted Herro’s potential game-tying three-pointer in the final 30 seconds.