"Jimmy developed some swelling in his knee as the day went on today, so he will not play tonight," Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg said before the game against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Butler returned to the lineup in a win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday, after he suffered a left knee strain in a Feb. 5 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
"He'll meet with the team doctor tonight, and we'll kind of go from there," Hoiberg said. "As of right now, it's just too early to tell how long he'll be [out]. He may be feeling much better [Tuesday]. I would imagine some type of test will happen in the next few days."
E'Twaun Moore will replace Butler in the starting lineup Monday.
"Obviously, there's concern," Hoiberg said. "Jimmy's a warrior. He's going to try to play through anything. He just developed swelling around that knee, and he's got a lot of soreness in there. So [it's] just too early to tell how long this one will be. He's optimistic he'll be back soon in talking to him, and I'll never doubt him."
Hoiberg said after Sunday's practice that Butler was feeling "great," so his absence came as a surprise to a team that was finally getting back to full strength -- aside from Joakim Noah, who is out for the year after shoulder surgery.
"[Butler] was moving around, he was a little stiff, as expected, had a little bit of soreness in his back as he said he always does," Hoiberg said. "He works out so hard, but you get that first game action, he just had a little bit of stiffness in his back. He was moving around pretty well [Sunday], but as the night went on and came in this morning, he didn't do much at shootaround -- more due to the back than anything. And then [the knee] just kind of swelled up."
Hoiberg is hopeful his team will be able to bounce back, even as the injury bug bites yet again.
"It can't be in their mind as we go out and go to battle tonight," Hoiberg said of Butler's injury. "It is what it is. We've had the last month playing without Jimmy. 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."
Link : http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14923714/jimmy-butler-chicago-bulls-left-knee-soreness
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