MINNEAPOLIS — Bulls fans who googled Lamaze exercises can breathe a bit easier since it was revealed Jimmy Butler’s nasty fall didn’t have a nasty conclusion, as his MRI revealed a strain in his left knee.
Not an ACL tear or any other serious injury that many feared to be the case when a wheelchair was required to cart him off the floor late in the second quarter of Friday night’s loss to the Denver Nuggets.
“Right now it’s a strain,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said Saturday. “He’ll see our doctors in the morning, and we should get a better idea about the time frame and see what we can do for treatments.”
CSNChicago.com initially reported late Friday night that it was a hyperextension and that Butler wouldn’t miss significant time, as Butler’s headed back to Chicago for further examination and will miss Monday’s game in Charlotte.
At first glance it looked much worse, but now it’s looking as if he’ll miss a few games then be back to go down the stretch of the season.
“Sure, it’s scary,” Hoiberg said. “He took off, he heard a pop. You expect the worst when you hear that. It happened on the takeoff.”
[SHOP BULLS: Get your Bulls gear right here]
NBA
From the sight, it appeared he landed on his right leg awkwardly but immediately went to grab his left leg, the same knee he bumped Monday in Salt Lake City that caused him to miss his first game of the season Wednesday in Sacramento.
Now the question of "did he come back too soon?" will enter into the minds of many, but as everyone knows, Butler is a competitive junkie and will force himself on the floor even when he shouldn’t.
It’s just another chapter of more injuries to this Bulls team that clearly can’t afford one, let alone one to its best player.
“After you’ve been around awhile, you realize this sort of thing happens,” backup guard Kirk Hinrich said. “It’s rare when a team goes through a whole season without some sort of significant injury or guys in and out of the lineup. We have to focus on the job at hand. Anytime somebody goes down, an opportunity arises for somebody else and ultimately it will hopefully make our team a better team.”