DENVER — He went down, but unlike so many other times, Jimmy Butler didn’t get up when he took an awkward fall and landed on his left knee late in the second quarter of Friday’s game against the Denver Nuggets.
The same left knee that kept him out of Wednesday’s game in Sacramento looked like it twisted again, and he was wheeled off in a wheelchair right before the half. But after the wheelchair was brought out, Butler eschewed leaving the floor immediately despite being in serious pain and took his free throws — because if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t be allowed to return to the game.