Heat teammates praise Jimmy Butler for pushing through injury before being sidelined

Center Bam Adebayo said at Friday morning’s shootaround that he is confident Butler will bounce back.

“He’s all right,” Adebayo said. “Jimmy’s going to be Jimmy.”

There also was empathy from the opposing locker room.

“It sucks seeing anyone get hurt, especially him,” Bulls guard DeMar DeRozan said. “You don’t want to see nobody with a major injury or anything.”

Bulls center Nikola Vučević, a long-time Heat rival dating to his time with the 76ers and Orlando Magic, agreed.

“He’s a tough guy,” he said of Butler. “You never want to have a guy miss games and be injured. We’re all a brotherhood in this league.”

For the Heat, it made Friday seem like so many nights in a season the Heat utilized a franchise-record 35 lineups, breaking the previous record of 31 set in 2014-15, the season that followed LeBron James’ offseason free-agency departure and included Chris Bosh being sidelined by blood clots. In all, the Heat utilized 18 starters this past season, two off the franchise record also set in 2014-15.

“This is pretty much how our season has been going,” Herro said. “The whole year, we’ve had guys in and out of the lineup.”

And again on Friday, with Butler and Terry Rozier out, Rozier for the sixth consecutive game due to what the team listed as neck spasms.

“Thirty-five different starting lineups,” Adebayo said, repeating the total. “That means everybody’s had their opportunity to be in the front line and have the opportunity to go out there and make plays.”

Such, Martin said, has become Heat life.

“We’ve shown it in the past where guys go down, that’s part of the game — guys go down, guys have to step up,” he said. “That’s part of our culture, too.”

Unfriendly confines

After posting a 22-19 home record at Kaseya Center during the regular season, Herro said Friday night’s venue hardly could be assumed as a panacea.

“I mean it definitely feels good to wake up at home,” he said at the morning shootaround. “Our home record isn’t the best this season. But waking up in Miami definitely is a great feeling.”