The Heat are still favored over the Bulls in Friday’s winner-take-all game for the No. 8 seed in the East on Friday, but the Jimmy Butler injury has oddsmakers doubting they’ll get much further.
After opening as a three-point road underdog, the Bulls got a little more love from oddsmakers after The Athletic’s Shams Charania first reported that Butler is feared to have suffered an MCL injury, shifting to +1.5 (Caesars Sportsbook) a little more than 24 hours from tip-off.
On Thursday, the Heat confirmed that Butler will miss Friday’s game with a right MCL sprain.
Butler appeared to suffer the right knee injury during the first half of the Heat’s one-point loss to the 76ers during Wednesday night’s East play-in game but stayed in the game, playing 39 total minutes.
Oddsmakers seemed to have already priced in an extended absence for the Heat’s best player.
Miami dropped from +1600 to +2500 to win the Eastern Conference and +4000 to +6600 to win the title at BetMGM Sportsbook following the loss to the 76ers and Butler’s injury.
If they can pull off a win in Butler’s absence on Friday, the Heat would head to Boston for a daunting match-up against the NBA-best Celtics, who won a league-high 64 games during the regular season.
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A Butler-less Heat upset over the NBA Finals favorite Celtics would likely qualify as one of the biggest playoff shockers in league history, although Miami has pulled off its fair share of unlikely series wins in recent years.
The Heat miraculously made the NBA Finals last season after entering Round 1 at +12500 to win the title, upsetting the top two title favorites — the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics — before falling to the Denver Nuggets.
In 2020, the Heat also won the East despite having the fourth-best odds to win the conference before the playoffs began.