Heat takes responsibility for decision not to air confrontation. And latest injury report
For those wondering why the Miami Heat’s third-quarter altercation wasn’t shown on the Bally Sports Sun broadcast of Wednesday night’s loss to the Golden State Warriors, the Heat organization made the decision.
Lorrie-Ann Diaz, Heat vice president of business communications and social responsibility, said “it was our decision not to air the incident, which is consistent with past practice, not Bally’s.”
The confrontation occurred when Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called a timeout with 8:39 left in the third quarter after the Warriors opened the period on a 13-0 run to take a 13-point lead.
The Heat’s frustration at that time became very evident, as team captain Udonis Haslem and All-Star Jimmy Butler had to be restrained by teammates. An angry Spoelstra slammed his clipboard and also spent most of the timeout yelling at Butler.
The Bally Sports Sun broadcast quickly referenced the emotional moment, but the NBC Sports affiliate of the Warriors captured and posted a video of the incident on Twitter.
The Heat did broadcast postgame interviews with Spoelstra and guard Kyle Lowry. Both Spoelstra and Lowry addressed the third-quarter confrontation, but video of it was still not shown.
In the aftermath of Wednesday’s decision to basically ignore the Butler-Haslem-Spoelstra flare-up, the Heat’s long-standing policy for such situations will be reviewed and potentially modified now that social media and cell phone cameras make the video of such an incident so widely available in other places.
INJURY REPORT
The Heat’s injury report for Friday night’s home game against the New York Knicks is long.
Butler (right ankle sprain), Tyler Herro (left knee sprain), Caleb Martin (hyperextended left knee), Duncan Robinson (right Achilles irritation) and P.J. Tucker (left knee irritation) are all listed as questionable. Three of the five are Heat starters and all five are rotation players.
Guard Victor Oladipo has been ruled out for Friday’s game because of right knee injury recovery. Oladipo has played in five games this season since returning earlier this month after an 11-month recovery from surgery to repair the quadriceps tendon in his right knee.
Friday will mark the second game he has missed because of right knee injury recovery since his return, as he also missed the Heat’s March 12 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on the second night of a back-to-back.
With Friday marking the front end of a back-to-back for the Heat, the expectation is that Oladipo will be available to play in Saturday’s matchup against the Brooklyn Nets.
In addition to Oladipo, guard Gabe Vincent (right big toe contusion), Kyle Guy (G League) and Javonte Smart (G League) will be out for the Heat on Friday.
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 4:17 PM.
