Sore knee sidelines Chicago Bulls' Butler again
Jimmy Butler was back on the shelf Monday, two days after an apparently successful return from a left-knee sprain.
Chicago Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg broke the news before the game. Butler's knee became swollen and sore as the day went on. There was no mention of a recurrence of Butler's injury at the morning shootaround, and Hoiberg said it's too soon to predict when Butler will return.
"Obviously, there's concern," Hoiberg said. "Jimmy's a warrior, he's going to try to play through anything. He developed swelling around that knee and he has a lot of soreness in there.
"Too early to tell how long this one will be. He's optimistic it will be soon, in talking to him."
Butler missed 11 games with the initial knee injury. He returned Saturday against Houston, posting 24 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists in 34 minutes of action. Before Saturday's contest, Hoiberg said Butler would not have a minutes limit.
"It is what it is. We've had the last month playing without Jimmy," Hoiberg said. "With Jimmy and Jo (Noah) out of the lineup. We've obviously struggled on the defensive end, so somebody's going to have to step up. We'll see how this thing is. I think we'll know more (Monday night) into tomorrow about the severity of it."
Bucks lose point guard:
The Milwaukee Bucks announced Monday that point guard Michael Carter-Williams will have surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip and miss the rest of the season.
Carter-Williams is averaging 11.5 points. He was removed from the starting lineup last month and missed the previous four games with the hip injury.
"We're going to miss Mike, understanding what he's done for us all season," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said before Monday's game. "He's been asked to come off the bench. We've had him start. He's averaging over 11 points, rebounding the ball for us, assists.
"Defensively, he's always taken the assignment of one of the best perimeter guys. He's going to be dearly missed. For us, our bench gets smaller."
Milwaukee has been using 6-foot-11 Giannis Antetokounmpo as point forward since Carter-Williams left the starting lineup. The "Greek Freak" has responded with three triple-doubles in the past two weeks.
Bull horns:
With Jimmy Butler out, E'Twaun Moore started his 17th game of the season. … At halftime Monday, Pau Gasol had 10 assists, compared to 9 for the entire Bucks team. … At the start of Monday's game, the Bulls jumped ahead 7-0, gave up 10 straight points to Milwaukee, then went on a 10-0 run themselves.