Awaiting Tucker’s MRI results, Heat back home hoping to get healthy: ‘It has been a grind’
Already short-handed, the Heat’s injury list grew even longer on Monday.
Forward P.J. Tucker, who sustained a knee injury on Sunday against Detroit, was ruled out for Tuesday’s game against the visiting Indiana Pacers (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports and TNT). The Heat is listing the injury as lower leg nerve inflammation.
Jimmy Butler (tailbone), Caleb Martin (COVID protocols) and Markieff Morris (whiplash) also were ruled out for Tuesday. And Bam Adebayo and Victor Oladipo remain out with long-term injuries.
Tyler Herro was listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game.
If Herro is unavailable, the Heat would have just nine available players against the Pacers.
Miami returns home after playing 19 of its first 31 games on the road and much of the last three weeks without its star duo of Adebayo and Butler.
“It has been a grind, for sure,” Heat forward Max Strus said, as the Charlotte Hornets entered Monday as the only team that has played more road games than Miami to start the season. “I feel like we haven’t been home at all all year, which kind of stinks.”
Tucker left Sunday’s loss to the Pistons with 7:32 left in the third quarter because of a left knee injury and did not return. Tucker was injured when he left his feet to challenge an Isaiah Stewart shot around the rim and landed hard on the court. He exited the contest after finishing with nine points, four rebounds and one assist in 21 minutes.
With a limp but no brace on his injured knee, Tucker still appeared at his Kicks and Community Toy Giveaway on Monday afternoon that he partnered with Foot Locker to host at Gwen Cherry Park in Miami.
Tucker, who was not using crutches, said he underwent an MRI ahead of the event and was still awaiting the results, with his status in doubt for Tuesday’s game against the Pacers.
“I’m already feeling better than I was yesterday. So that’s good,” Tucker said to the Miami Herald on Monday before handing out toys and shoes to children. “We’ll see what happens. We just did the MRI, so we’re waiting to get the results and see what happens. Fingers crossed.”
Of Tucker’s value, Heat guard Kyle Lowry said: “He’s such a great guy, great leader. Makes timely plays. But he also does the little small things that we all need. His lack of presence was definitely felt [Sunday] in that second half. But we just hopefully can figure out a way. Hopefully it’s nothing serious and he’ll be right back with us. But he’s a major cog to this machine.”
Adebayo is not expected to return until mid-January following successful surgery on Dec. 6 on a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb, but Butler is expected to return in the coming days during the homestand after missing 10 of the past 11 games with a tail bone contusion.
The Heat has had its entire leading trio of Adebayo, Butler and Lowry available for just 14 of its first 31 games. Miami has posted a 9-5 record in those games and has outscored teams by 29 points in the 257 minutes they have played together.
“We’re still a team that we haven’t had an opportunity to play but 10 or 15 games together,” Lowry said. “I don’t know how many games we’ve played together as a full group. But we still have time to get better and figure each other out.”
In addition, Herro and Martin are also nearing their return.
Herro missed the last three games with a right quadriceps contusion. He went through his pregame routine in Detroit on Sunday, but was formally ruled out less than an hour before tipoff.
Martin has been in the NBA’s health and safety protocols since Dec. 11 after testing positive for COVID-19. The current NBA policy requires players — whether they’re fully vaccinated or not — to either quarantine for 10 days or return consecutive negative PCR tests at least 24 hours apart while not having any symptoms in order to return after testing positive for COVID-19.
There’s still no definitive timetable for the return of Morris and Oladipo (right knee injury recovery). Morris has missed 21 straight games and Oladipo has yet to play this season.
“It will be great,” Lowry said of the impending return of some of his teammates. “Unfortunately, Jimmy went down and came back and went back down. But that’s an important star that we’re missing. Then Caleb, he’s playing unbelievable. This time that he had to sit out with the protocols and all that stuff was unfortunate timing for him. But I think it will be great for us to get our teammates back and get back to an almost full group hopefully and go from there.”
While the Heat would need to cross the luxury tax line to add a player to make up for some of its injuries, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association came to an agreement Sunday night on rules allowing additional replacement players for teams dealing with COVID-19 issues that won’t impact teams’ salary cap and position against the luxury tax. According to a memo shared with teams, these rules will remain in place until Jan. 19, when the league will offer further guidance on the hardship rules for the remainder of the season.
Teams will be allowed to sign a replacement player to a 10-day contract for each positive COVID-19 case it has on its roster. These replacement players won’t count toward a team’s salary cap or potential luxury tax payment.
The memo also states that teams will have to sign at least one replacement player if they have two positive COVID-19 cases, at least two replacement players if they have three positive COVID-19 cases, and at least three replacement players if they have four or more positive COVID-19 cases to help the league avoid further game postponements because of health and safety protocols. Miami currently has just one positive COVID-19 case on its roster.
Despite the adversity the Heat has faced, it entered Monday in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and just 1.5 games behind the second-place Chicago Bulls at 18-13. Miami has posted a 6-4 record in games played without Adebayo and Butler this season.
“I think we’re just continuing to get better,” Lowry said when asked for his view of where the Heat stands as it returns home. “I think this stretch has helped us with our younger guys kind of figure out how to play, what they can do and showing us that we can count on them way more. Long term, this time that they’ve played and the time that they’ve been on the floor, they’ve gotten better. It will help us in the long run.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2021 at 11:05 AM.
