Rest? Heat’s P.J. Tucker just wants to keep playing: ‘I don’t like sitting’
With the start of the playoffs less than a month away, the Miami Heat is facing a decision most teams would be happy to make.
What’s the right amount of rest to give players over the final weeks of the regular season while still keeping them in rhythm for the postseason? Miami’s coaching staff needs to find the right answer to that question for each rotation player, as the Eastern Conference-leading Heat entered Wednesday two games ahead of the second-place Milwaukee Bucks.
“I know that guys here can hoop,” Heat star Jimmy Butler said ahead of Wednesday night’s matchup against the Golden State Warriors to open a four-game homestand at FTX Arena. “They’re not going to forgot how to put the ball in the basket or get a stop or dribble overnight, so you don’t want anybody to get injured.
“But some guys like to rest, some guys like to go out there and hoop. I don’t think that either way is a bad way, and that will be between the players and coaches to figure that out.”
The Heat ruled out Tyler Herro (left knee sprain), Gabe Vincent (big toe contusion), Kyle Guy (G League) and Javonte Smart (G League) for Wednesday’s game against the Warriors. Spoelstra said Herro’s knee was “just a little bit sore” after tweaking it during Friday’s win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
But Heat forward P.J. Tucker is not on that list and doesn’t want to be despite being the second-oldest player on the roster and the oldest player in the rotation at 36 years old. He has coincidentally shot just 21.7 percent from three-point range since the All-Star break after making 45 percent of his threes before the break.
Tucker has missed just eight games this season, and two of them were because of the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols. He has sat out only two games since Jan. 3 and has appeared in every game but one since the start of February.
“A couple bodyguards. Really,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked what it will take to convince Tucker to take a game off prior to the playoffs. “Every time I’ve like suggested it, he’ll just laugh in my face. Sometimes he’ll just scowl at me.”
When told about Spoelstra’s comment, Tucker smiled and said: “I don’t know why he’s talking about my rest. He doesn’t need to worry about my rest, I already told him that. I just figure it out, man. That’s just how I’ve always been, that’s what I do. I don’t like sitting. I like playing basketball no matter what. I’m never 100 percent. You’re always going to have something when you play as hard as I do and play as much as I do, but it’s something that just comes along with the territory.”
Meanwhile, the Warriors rested two players against the Heat who recently returned from extended absences with Draymond Green (back injury management) and Klay Thompson (Achilles tendon injury management) ruled out on the second night of a back-to-back after playing in Tuesday’s loss to the Magic in Orlando. Golden State also will be without All-Star guard Stephen Curry (left foot sprain), Andre Iguodala (low back tightness), Otto Porter Jr. (back injury management), Quinndary Weatherspoon (G League) and James Wiseman (right knee injury management) against the Heat.
Following Wednesday’s game against the Warriors, the Heat has just nine regular-season games left to play. The rest for Tucker and others could come during the two remaining back-to-back sets on Miami’s schedule, with the first one coming at home on Friday against the New York Knicks and Saturday against the Brooklyn Nets followed by the final back-to-back of the season on April 2 against the Chicago Bills and April 3 against the Toronto Raptors on the road.
Or the rest could simply come during the break between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. After the April 10 regular-season finale against the Magic in Orlando, the Heat will then have at least five days off before opening the playoffs in Miami the following weekend to give time for the play-in tournament to be completed.
“I think the schedule right now, I don’t think we have to,” Spoelstra said when asked if he wants to find time for Tucker to take a night off before the end of the regular season. “But I’ll be mindful on those back-to-backs. I’m not going to predetermine anything right now. We’ll just see when we get there.”
BUTLER’S COFFEE STAND
Butler has brought his BigFace coffee brand to the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium, as a stand selling his coffee is available in the player-dining and some VIP areas at the tournament.
“I think when it’s coming from one professional athlete to another and they see me constantly drinking BigFace coffee, they know I wouldn’t put any B.S. in my body,” Butler said to The Associated Press about bringing BigFace to the Miami Open. “And I know everybody’s so cognizant of what they put in their body as a professional athlete in whatever sport. I just want to help put the best in front of you and you take it and run with it if you choose.”
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 12:36 PM.
