The Miami Heat will be short-handed against the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
As the Boston Celtics look to bounce back against the Miami Heat in Game 4, down 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals, it appears that they’re going to have the opportunity to do so against an injured Heat team.
The word for Heat shootaround is that they will be without Tyler Herro and could also be without Jimmy Butler. Jimmy will try to play in Game 4, but there’s no guarantee that he will be able to. That means, if the Heat is going to take a 3-1 series lead over Boston, they’re going to have to do it short-handed. And that won’t be an easy task.
Winning in Boston, specifically in Game 4, was already going to be a tall task for the Heat. Even if they were completely healthy. Doing so without Herro and potentially without Butler, in the playoffs, seems highly unlikely.
The loss of Herro hurts, even though he’s struggled throughout this series. Not only will they miss his aggressiveness off the bench, but they’ll also miss the pick-and-roll connection that he’s developed with Bam Adebayo.
Herro struggled in Game 3 offensively, but he played a huge part in getting Bam involved early on during the game. And that carried over through the rest of the contest.
However, thanks to a huge Game 3 win, the Heat has some wiggle room when it comes to stealing a few more days of recovery for Herro. Hopefully, the next two days will be big for his recovery and he will be back for a potentially decisive Game 5 in Miami.
As far as Jimmy is concerned, I wouldn’t automatically assume that he’s going to play Monday night in Hoston.
In fact, it wouldn’t entirely be surprising if the Heat followed suit and elected to sit Jimmy as well. Though, if Miami is going to have any shot of beating the Celtics on the road, they’re going to need Jimmy. If Butler is out, there may not be much of a reason to even show up to the arena for Miami. Especially under the assumption that the Celtics will be looking to bounce back in a huge way.