Will Payton Pritchard Be Suspended For The Dirty Play That Injured Jimmy Butler?
The Miami Heat took a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Finals on Friday night with a 109-103 win in Boston. The Celtics held on despite blowing a huge lead and losing Jimmy Butler to a knee injury. A knee injury that happened on a dirty play by Boston's Payton Pritchard.
Jimmy Butler missed the second half of Game 3 last night due to right knee inflammation.
— Ahaan Rungta (@AhaanRungta) May 22, 2022
For as much coverage as the Ja Morant knee injury got, that came after a much less intentional Jordan Poole grab, I'd argue this action by Payton Pritchard is strictly worse. pic.twitter.com/Gb0CHpYKCc
Payton Pritchard grabbed Jimmy Butler’s right knee on this play, the same knee which caused Jimmy to miss the second half. pic.twitter.com/5bx7lcxoUf
— Mink Flow (@currypistonn) May 22, 2022
@miaheatbeat @5ReasonsSports is this the knee Jimmy is dealing with?
— court corner (@courtcorner) May 22, 2022
ESPN talked about the Poole play on Morant for decades, but I haven’t seen any mention of Pritchard yanking at Jimmy’s knee. pic.twitter.com/feydGGs9ND
The comparisons to the Jordan Poole - Ja Morant play during the last round are obvious. There are just a couple big differences. Morant was lost for the rest of the series while Butler may be ready by Monday. And the Poole play was awkward while Pritchard appeared to try to trip up Butler with his legs before just grabbing his knee.
The question is, will this result in a suspension for Pritchard?