NBA teams
Nick Friedell, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Jimmy Butler returns against Hornets

NBA, Chicago Bulls

CHICAGO -- Jimmy Butler scored 19 points in his return to the starting lineup in Monday night's 98-86 win over the Charlotte Hornets after missing the last three weeks because of a left elbow sprain.

"I'm glad to be back," Butler said after playing almost 40 minutes. "But I got to get better. I feel like I hurt us in a lot of ways tonight, even though we got the win, don't get me wrong. But I made a lot of mental mistakes and it just can't happen."

As usual, Butler was being a little harsher on himself than he had to be, but the rust was evident in his game. He injured the elbow in a March 1 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers and was expected to be out 3-6 weeks after an MRI confirmed the ligament sprain. But the All-Star swingman made good strides in practices and came back quicker than originally thought.

He was just 6-for-20 from the field, but gave the Bulls an emotional lift on a night when they played without Joakim Noah (general soreness), Cam Bairstow (illness) and Derrick Rose (knee).

"You kind of got to shoot the rust off," Butler said. "That's what Pau [Gasol] told me to do. So I definitely got [the shots] up, over 20 balls."

Butler said he didn't feel much pain in the elbow and wore a protective sleeve over it during the game.

"I love how Jimmy plays, what he brings to the table," Gasol said. "The type of player that he is. Obviously he was not going to be very sharp tonight, first game back. But I thought he was very -- he contributed in different ways, even though his shooting percentage wasn't very good tonight. It's just part of getting back into rhythm."

The Bulls face off against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.

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