Advertisement

Signs point to Jimmy Butler's return to the lineup tonight vs. Brooklyn

Wolves guard Jimmy Butler has missed the past four Wolves games with a sore right knee

January 27, 2018 at 7:06PM
Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler (Mike Nelson/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

It is not yet official. But all signs point to Wolves guard Jimmy Butler returning to action after missing four games with a sore right knee. The Wolves host Brookly tonight at 8 p.m.

First, Butler was on the Target Center floor long, long after the morning shootaround ended, taking extra shots. Afterward, he wouldn't say anything officially, but let little things slip. Like, when asked about the way Andrew Wiggins had played in his absence: "It doesn't change, just because I'm back in the lineup,'' he said. "Just continue to do that.''

Coach Tom Thibodeau, of course, played it close to the vest. He only said Butler was looking good, getting close and that a decision would be made after the pre-game warmup.

But I think he plays.

Earlier in the season, when Butler missed back-to-back games with an illness, the Wolves lost two very one-sided games to Indiana and Detroit. This time the Wolves went 2-2 in the four games he missed. And while the team's struggles on defense in losses against three-point-centric teams in Portland and Golden State were apparent, neither game was a rout.

Butler said, watching from the bench, he saw improvement from the last time he couldn't play.

"We've gotten better in a lot of aspects of the game,'' he said. "I think we still have a lot of lapses, mental lapses, on both ends of the floor. Not just defense. But we're getting better. We're building great habits. All that said, we went 2-2, lost the last two. We're back at home, gotta win, must win. So, back to the drawing board.''

And, I suspect, back to the lineup for Butler.

Advertisement
Advertisement

One other note: Brooklyn guard D'Angelo Russell, whose minutes are being limited in his return from injury, will not play tonight.

about the writer

about the writer

Kent Youngblood

Reporter

Kent Youngblood has covered sports for the Minnesota Star Tribune for more than 20 years.

See Moreicon

More from Minnesota Star Tribune

See More
In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece

We respect the desire of some tipsters to remain anonymous, and have put in place ways to contact reporters and editors to ensure the communication will be private and secure.

Advertisement
Advertisement

To leave a comment, .

Advertisement