Kyle Lowry held out of practice because of hamstring injury, and Game 4 status in question
Kyle Lowry has managed to remain healthy for nearly the entire season, but the Miami Heat’s starting point guard is now dealing with an injury that could force him to miss some time in the playoffs.
Lowry is listed as questionable for Game 4 of the Heat’s first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday at State Farm Arena (7 p.m., TNT and Bally Sports Sun) because of a left hamstring strain he suffered in Game 3. The Heat’s series lead is down to 2-1 after wasting a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in Friday’s 111-110 loss to the Hawks in Atlanta.
“I’m pissed. I wish I was out there,” Lowry said Saturday afternoon after missing the entire fourth quarter of Friday’s defeat. “I feel like if I was out there, it would have been a different situation. But I wasn’t out there. I trust my teammates. The Hawks made a great run.”
There is cautious optimism from those around Lowry that the hamstring injury is not too serious, but he did not participate in the Heat’s Saturday afternoon practice at State Farm Arena. Lowry, 36, walked around gingerly in a sweatsuit as the team went through the practice session.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra labeled Lowry as “day-to-day.”
“We’ll see how I feel tomorrow,” Lowry said, holding out hope that he could possibly play on Sunday. “I’ve been doing treatment pretty much all day. I’ve done some treatment this morning. We’re going to talk to medical and we’re going to be all on the same page, and see how I feel day by day.”
While Lowry wants to push through the pain, he made it clear that he understands “I’ve got to be smart” and “myself and my team, the medical, we all have to be on the same page and all be in agreement.”
Lowry said he couldn’t “pinpoint the exact moment” the injury happened, but it occurred at some point during the third quarter just a few minutes before he was subbed out on Friday with 1:59 left in the period. He did not return and spent the entire fourth quarter watching on from the bench.
Lowry missed only one regular-season game because of an injury in his first season with the Heat, as the other 16 games he sat out came because of either COVID-19 protocols, personal reasons or rest purposes. A sprained left ankle forced him to miss the second game of the season, and he then went on to sit out two games because of COVID-19 protocols, 13 games because of personal reasons and three games for rest.
The last time Lowry missed time in the playoffs was when a sprained ankle forced him to sit out two games in the 2017 Eastern Conference semifinals as a member of the Toronto Raptors.
“I don’t think it reminds me of that, because it was two different injuries,” Lowry said when asked if his latest injury brings him flashbacks from 2017. “That was a little more severe, I think. But, like I said, this is just not even 24 hours into it. So, I’ve been getting treatment the whole time and we’re just going to honestly take it hour-by-hour and go from there.”
Lowry recorded six points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field, four rebounds and five assists in 23 minutes before exiting the Heat’s Game 3 loss late in the third quarter.
The good news for the Heat is it won most of the games Lowry missed in the regular season, posting a 12-7 record in those situations.
The bad news for the Heat is it has not fared well when Lowry has not been on the court in the first three playoff games. Miami has outscored Atlanta by 27.8 points per 100 possessions with Lowry in the game, while the Hawks have outscored the Heat by 20.4 points with Lowry not on the court in the first-round series.
Among Lowry’s biggest contributions in the series, so far, has been his defense on Hawks star guard Trae Young. Only Gabe Vincent and P.J. Tucker have spent more time than Lowry as Young’s primary defender in the first round, with Lowry limiting Young to 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field in 42 possessions during the series.
If Lowry can’t play in Game 4, the Heat will need to find a way to survive without him. Miami is two wins away from advancing to the second round.
“We’ll figure it out,” Spoelstra said. “You know the one thing about this team is we’ve had a lot of different variations of our rotation all year long. We’ve been able to respond and win with different guys out.”
Without Lowry down the stretch in Game 3, the Heat played Vincent in his place for 6:23 of the fourth quarter. But Miami closed the game without a traditional point guard on the court, using a lineup of Tyler Herro, Max Strus, Jimmy Butler, P.J. Tucker and Bam Adebayo for essentially the final six minutes of the fourth period.
Vincent and Herro are options to start in Lowry’s place if he misses Sunday’s game. Adebayo made it sound on Saturday like Vincent would start if Lowry can’t play in Game 4.
“Vincent has grown throughout this whole season, especially having Kyle in his ear,” Adebayo said. “It’s made him a better point guard, better player. I’m excited for Vincent. This is his moment and he’ll embrace it.”
If Spoelstra chooses to keep the bench rotation intact, guard Victor Oladipo is another option to step into Lowry’s spot in the starting lineup. Oladipo, who made his season debut on March 7 following an 11-month recovery from surgery to repair the quadriceps tendon in his right knee, has yet to play in the series after falling out of the rotation in the final weeks of the regular season.
“I have everybody on my mind right now,” Spoelstra said when asked about the possibility of playing Oladipo. “There will be a lot of different directions. But we’ll just see. I don’t even know what the determination is right now. We’re talking about a lot of hypotheticals.”
Whatever happens, Lowry said he’ll “trust the medical advice” and “give it rest.”
This story was originally published April 23, 2022 at 3:38 PM.
