After missing Game 2, you can bet the house Miami’s All-Star forward Jimmy Butler is going to be on the floor for Game 3 of this second-round playoff series between the Knicks and Heat.
Saturday will mark five days of rest between Game 1, when Butler sprained his ankle then played through the pain for the final 5:05 of the fourth quarter to help power the Heat to victory at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, and Game 3 at Miami’s FTX Arena.
The Knicks are expecting Butler to be back and close to full strength given the Heat had to save their star forward from himself and hold him out for Game 2.
“I have a lot of respect for Jimmy, the type of player he is,” Knicks star Julius Randle said at practice on Thursday. “Mentally, you know he’s gonna be locked in and engaged regardless of how he feels bad, he’ll be great. So we just wanna make it as hard as we can for him and just limit our mistakes on our end when we’re guarding him.”
The good thing about the situation, according to head coach Tom Thibodeau, is that the Knicks now know how the Heat will play in both scenarios: Butler available or out due to injury.
The Knicks narrowly escaped Game 2 with five-point victory despite Miami’s three top scorers on the night stepping up from normal role player posts. Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin and Max Strus combined for 55 points for the Heat on Tuesday.
“You prepare for whatever the strengths of the club are, whether that means that it’s added three-point shooting or if it means more zone, or whatever it might mean,” Thibodeau said on Thursday. “You just have to go in with your plan, but the things that you need to do to win are always the same in terms of defense, rebounding, and keeping your turnovers down.”
Bad ankle or not, the Knicks still plan to keep Butler as the focal point of their defensive game plan. The Heat star sent the No. 1-seeded Milwaukee Bucks home in five games in a masterful first round where he averaged close to 38 points per game. He ended the series with 56 points in Game 4 and 42 in Game 5.
Butler hung 25 points, 11 rebounds and four assists on the Knicks in their Game 1 loss to the Heat. The Knicks don’t want a repeat performance in their first road game of this series.
“He’s a winning player. He’s one of those guys that just has that warrior mentality, trying to will his team to win,” Josh Hart said. “When he’s out there, neutralize that as best we can.”
QUICKLY STRUGGLING
After an explosive series finale against the Cavaliers in the first round, Knicks’ sixth man Immanuel Quickley — has quickly gone cold.
The third-year guard out of Kentucky hung 19 points on the Cavaliers to end the Knicks’ first-round series in five games, but has scored just 15 points combined through Games 1 and 2 against the Heat.
Quickley is shooting just one-of-eight from downtown in the second round and played in just nine minutes of the Knicks’ Game 2 victory over the Heat on Tuesday.
Hart said he has to be better at finding the third-year guard when he’s open on the court.
“There’s a lot of times where I have the ball after a defensive rebound, and I’m tunnel vision at the rim, and I’m missing him when he’s wide open for corner threes or running in threes on that wing,” Hart said. “So we’ve gotta continue to find him when he’s open, continue to give him confidence, give the ball to him and let him play his game, and I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Quickley is coming off of a regular season that earned him Sixth Man of the Year consideration. He placed second behind Celtics’ award-winner Malcolm Brogdon, averaging just under 15 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Knicks this year.
He hasn’t found his scoring stride against the Heat, but Hart has delivered the same message to the struggling scorer.
“There’s highs and lows to the season, and the biggest thing is to be even,” he said. “That’s something that he’s doing, and we’ve gotta continue to help him and find him when he’s open.”
BRUNSON DAY-TO-DAY
Tom Thibodeau was particularly dismissive when discussing star point guard Jalen Brunson’s status for Game 3 against the Heat on Saturday.
The Knicks listed Brunson as questionable with a sore left ankle ahead of Game 2 on Tuesday, but he played and led the team to victory with 30 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field and 6-of-10 shooting from downtown.
Thibodeau said Brunson “didn’t do much” at practice at the team’s Tarrytown facility on Thursday. Asked if the floor general’s status is in question for Game 3, Thibs said, flatly: “Day-to-day.”
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