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Tickets at Ticket Master
Heat forward Caron Butler had arthroscopic knee surgery Saturday and could be sidelined a month, a setback for a Miami team featuring a retooled lineup.
Butler bruised his left knee during the first day of workouts Wednesday. Tests showed no cartilage damage but revealed loose particles.
If Butler misses a month, as coach Pat Riley estimates, he would be out through the first three games of the regular season, which opens for Miami on Oct. 28 in Philadelphia. Butler finished third last season in rookie of the year balloting.
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``It just sort of sets everything back,'' Riley said. ``This is very disappointing.''
Butler averaged 15.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists last season and is the cornerstone for a lineup that includes guards ticketmaster Dwyane Wade and Eddie Jones, forward Lamar Odom and center Brian Grant.
Butler decided to have surgery rather than deal with continued stiffness and swelling.
``I didn't want
to take a chance with it,'' he said. ``And the swelling ticketmaster wasn't
going down. We tried to wait two days. It still didn't go down.''