Heat’s Bam Adebayo on knee tendinitis: ‘It hurt like ----.’ But he’s ready to make his return
Bam Adebayo was unavailable for the past four games because of left knee tendinitis, but the Miami Heat’s starting center played through the pain before the decision was made to miss time.
“On a scale of 1 to 10, it hurt like s---. So 10,” Adebayo said in advance of Tuesday night’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at AmericanAirlines Arena. “But I don’t like to miss games. I don’t like to make excuses.”
The good news for the Heat is Adebayo progressed enough in his recovery to make his return Tuesday.
“He has been ready for over a week,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Adebayo a few hours before tip-off. “We all feel really good about this plan. He has been putting in a great deal of work behind the scenes and hopefully we can just put it behind us.”
Adebayo, who played in his first game Tuesday since March 2, said he spent the past two weeks doing “a lot of rehab work.” That has included “a lot of massages, staying off of it, minimal jumps.”
“The training staff is getting me right, the weight trainers are getting me right,” Adebayo said. “I’m feeling better, so something is going well.”
At first, Adebayo was determined to not miss any games because of the pain. The same knee injury had Adebayo on the injury report for two games just before the All-Star break, but he ended up playing in both before tendinitis ultimately sidelined him.
In Adebayo’s last appearance before missing four straight games, he turned in a quiet performance that included just 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting, two rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes in a March 2 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
Adebayo then traveled with the team to New Orleans for the Heat’s final game before the All-Star break, but the decision was made to rest his injured knee before that March 4 win over the Pelicans. He missed that contest and the next three games.
“Me and Spo had a real conversation, he told me to sit basically,” Adebayo said. “So I listened to my body, I listened to Spo. Mentally, I was like, ‘I could play.’ But physically my body was, ‘You can’t do this.’ But I was all about giving it a try and then Spo sat me down and told me, ‘No.’”
The four-game absence marked the first regular-season games that Adebayo has missed because of a legitimate injury since his rookie season in 2017-18. He played every regular-season game in 2018-19, missed the regular-season finale last season as a precaution with the start of the playoffs just days away, and had previously missed just two games this season because of contact tracing related to the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Adebayo, 23, entered Tuesday averaging 19.2 points on 56.3 percent shooting, 9.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 33 games (33 starts) this season.
The Heat managed to post a 4-0 record in the four games that Adebayo missed because of knee tendinitis.
“Boring as hell,” Adebayo said when asked what it was like to miss time. “Obviously, seeing my teammates win and have that joy, you want to be a part of that. So, yeah, I was sitting at home bored as hell.”
▪ The Heat had 15 players available on Tuesday against the Cavaliers, with veteran guard Avery Bradley (right calf strain) and center Meyers Leonard (league suspension/season-ending shoulder surgery) out. Bradley, who was upgraded to questionable for Tuesday’s contest before he was ruled out, missed his 19th straight game.
HEAT AND COVID-19 VACCINE
Spoelstra said Sunday the Heat has had “preliminary meetings” to discuss the potential of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, but that’s about as far as those discussions have gone for now.
“We have not done a tally to see officially who wants to do it or not and yet we are still in the process of finding out more information and then trying to secure availability,” Spoelstra said. “When that happens, we’ll take that next step.”
Florida is currently giving vaccines to healthcare workers, long-term care residents and staff and people 60 and older. Sworn law enforcement, firefighters and K-12 school personnel ages 50 and older are also eligible for the vaccine. Anyone under 60 who a physician determines is “extremely vulnerable” to COVID-19 because of a preexisting medical condition can also get the vaccine.
Heat managing general partner Micky Arison, 71, posted a photo onto his Instagram account of himself receiving the vaccination with the caption: “#WearAMask #GetVaccinated #SaveLives.”
Dozens of eligible members of the New Orleans Pelicans organization, including multiple players, received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Saturday, the team announced. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards expanded eligibility for the vaccine last week.
During his news conference before the All-Star Game earlier this month, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league is not planning to force players to receive the COVID-19 vaccination. But Silver added there will be advantages to getting vaccinated, like players who do receive the vaccine could avoid having to quarantine because of a close contact with someone who tested positive for the virus.
“Not every single one of our players gets a flu shot and that is their personal right and decision,” Spoelstra said. “Obviously, this is a different scenario league-wide. But we’ll continue to gather more information, try to educate everybody in our building as much as possible and then let everybody make their own decision on it.”
TYLER TUESDAY
The Tyler Herro bowl is now on the menu at participating Chipotle restaurants around South Florida.
The bowl named after the Heat’s second-year guard is made up of half steak, half chicken, brown rice, pinto beans, sour cream, cheese, honey vinaigrette and guacamole.
Herro’s go-to bowl is available through April 30 on the Chipotle app and Chipotle.com. To celebrate Tyler Tuesday, there’s a $0 delivery fee on orders containing the Tyler Herro Bowl on Tuesdays through April 27 at Chipotle’s participating restaurants around South Florida.
Herro is the first professional basketball player to have their go-to order on the Chipotle menu.
“He’s open to trying different situations so it doesn’t shock it mean that he has a cereal and then has his own Tyler Tuesday Chipotle Bowl,” Adebayo said with a laugh. “The kid is marketing himself great, I can tell you that.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 12:31 PM.
