Butler gets cupping treatment! Warriors official injury update Kerr revealed that he is still likely to play in G3

On April 26, Beijing time, according to a report by Named Wenhorst, Butler, who suffered a deep gluteal muscle contusion, will not be out for a long time and is expected to return for no more than a week. He cites injury expert Jeff Stotts as saying that the average recovery time for Butler's type of injury is 5.2 days.The Warriors officially updated Butler's injury and confirmed that he suffered pelvic and deep gluteal contusions, and Kerr responded with relative optimism: "He is still likely to play in G3. ”

"Morant and Butler had very similar falls on two consecutive nights. Butler was scrambling for a rebound and landed heavily in the pelvis from a fairly high position. Fortunately, Butler didn't have a hip fracture or a broken coccyx because we've seen Holmgren have had similar falls before," Weinhorst said, "Thankfully, Butler's MRI showed that he didn't have any problems with a cracked pelvis." ”

Speaking about recovery time, Wenhorst said: "I trust Jeff Stotts, he has a very strong injury database. According to his database, Butler could miss two or three games and usually take a week to recover. ”Butler also updated social media and posted a picture of himself receiving cupping treatment.

This isn't the first time Butler has suffered such an injury. He suffered a gluteus maximus contusion during the 2023 playoffs, which made the Warriors expect similar expectations for his recovery time this time.

In this competitive playoff matchup, the Warriors desperately need Butler to play on both ends of the floor if they want to eliminate the Rockets. Butler's impact on both ends of the floor has been critical to the Warriors' success this season, so the timing of his likely return has been a key factor in the outcome of the series. The Warriors' medical team is likely to be cautious about the star player, balancing the urgency of playoff games with the risk of worsening injuries.

The Warriors currently classify Butler's G3 status as "doubtful," and if Butler does miss the G3 game, the Warriors will need a better performance from his bench to fill the huge void left by the all-around star's absence. "If Butler can't play, we're going to have to restructure everything," head coach Kerr said, "including rotation, starting lineups, best combinations, and so on. ”

Butler was trying to grab a rebound moments before his injury when Amen Thompson hit him from underneath, sending the Warriors star with both feet in the air and sitting directly on his tailbone. Falling to the ground hard, Butler frowned in pain and clutched his hips. He briefly insisted on making two free throws before returning to the locker room.

"Obviously, he's an integral part of the Warriors," Rockets head coach Udoka said, "and he's a one-on-one scorer, he's good at misplaced singles, and when he's not on the court, we're able to focus more on Curry." I think we've done that to a large extent. ”

In the Warriors' opening game, Butler played 42 minutes and scored 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting, plus seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. Since his promotional debut in Chicago on Feb. 9, the Warriors have a 25-9 record, including a 23-8 record in the regular season, a play-in win over the Grizzlies and the first two games against the Rockets.

Kuminga, who had not played in the previous three games, was moved to the rotation due to Butler's injury; Podemski played ill with a team understaffed and even received intravenous fluids at half-time.

"I've had similar experiences a few times and know what that means. The key is how serious the injury is, I don't know," Curry said after the game, "but it definitely changed the pace of our offense." Butler and Podzemski only played 21 minutes in total, so the rotation was a bit scrambled. ”

The third game between the Rockets and the Warriors will be played at 8:30 a.m. Beijing time on April 27, and the two teams are currently tied 1-1.