Heat’s Kyle Lowry out for Game 5 after re-aggravating hamstring issue. Gabe Vincent starting
The Miami Heat needed to overcome starting point guard Kyle Lowry’s absence to advance past the first round of the playoffs. The Heat needs to do it again in the second round to get by the Philadelphia 76ers.
Lowry, 36, re-aggravated his strained left hamstring in the Heat’s Game 4 loss in Philadelphia on Sunday. He was listed as questionable on Monday’s injury report to play in a pivotal Game 5 on Tuesday night at FTX Arena, but was formally ruled out by the team on Tuesday morning.
When asked whether Lowry made his hamstring injury even worse in Game 4, Spoelstra said: “I wouldn’t say that.” An MRI wasn’t needed and the Heat has labeled Lowry as day-to-day.
“This is what you’re dealing with when you have an injury like that,” Spoelstra said. “We just have to be very disciplined about it. He’ll go out there and compete and have an impact, but there’s diminishing returns on that, as well.”
Lowry limped and winced through 30 minutes of action in Game 4, finishing with six points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field and 0-of-6 shooting on threes, three rebounds, seven assists, two steals and four turnovers. He sat for the final 9:42 of the contest.
It was a struggle for Lowry after initially returning from the strained hamstring. He recorded just six points on 3-of-14 shooting from the field and 0-of-8 shooting on threes, seven rebounds and 10 assists in Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia — the two games he played in after first coming back from the injury.
Lowry said following Game 4 that “the goal is to be out there” for Game 5. But the belief is he may now be forced to miss the rest of the second-round series as the Heat takes a cautious approach with the injury, according to a league source.
“There’s a human side to it,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said ahead of Game 5. “I know how competitive Kyle is and I know how much he wants to be out there, particularly at this point of his career. This is what he’s playing for, these moments. To be 2-2, locked up in a series. There’s nothing better than that. So I do feel for him. But he’s a great teammate. He was as active as anybody in this shootaround just making sure everybody was prepped and all the details. He’ll just continue to do his treatment and do his Wolverine thing.”
Lowry strained his hamstring in Game 3 of the Heat’s first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks. He went on to miss four straight games over two weeks, as Miami posted a 4-0 record without him during that time before he returned in Game 3 of the second round.
The Heat started Gabe Vincent in Lowry’s place on Tuesday. Vincent also started in the first four games Lowry missed this postseason, averaging 9.3 points on 38.9 percent shooting from the field and 3.5 assists in those starts.
The Heat entered Tuesday with an impressive 16-7 record in games that Lowry has missed this season.
“We’ve dealt with it before,” Spoelstra said of playing without Lowry. “We’ve dealt with all the different rotation challenges and that’s just what we’re dealing with right now. We have plenty of guys that can step up. It will look a little bit different. But we’ve had recent experience with it.”
The Heat still expects Lowry, who is the only player on the Heat’s 15-man roster unavailable for Game 5, to make an impact despite not being in uniform.
“He’s so sharp,” Spoelstra said. “He sees things ahead of most people. That would be players or staff alike, and he has just a brilliant way of communicating and infusing confidence. He’s going to have his fingerprints on this game one way or another.”
STILL IN THE PLANS
Heat sharpshooter Duncan Robinson has received three DNP-CDs (did not play, coach’s decision) in the first four games of the second-round series. They have marked his first DNP-CDs since April 2019.
Robinson, who is considered one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA, did not play in Games 3 and 4 in Philadelphia. The Heat shot a combined 14 of 65 (21.5 percent) from beyond the arc in those two losses.
Although Robinson has been on the court for just 55 seconds through the first four games of the second round, Spoelstra said Robinson has still been on his mind.
“I was probably like everybody else,” Spoelstra said Tuesday morning prior to Game 5. “Right after the game, I’m looking at the three-point percentages. I’m like, ‘Wow, we could have really used him.’ This is how fast series can move and can change.
“We said it at the beginning of the series, this going to take on three or four different lives within the same series. I’m not Nostradamus, but it’s playing out that way. It’s all hands on deck. It could be different guys at different segments. Duncan has kept himself ready. He’s really been on our card, even in all the games that he hasn’t played. He’s right there. So we’ll see what happens tonight.”
COACH OF THE YEAR
Phoenix’s Monty Williams was named the NBA’s Coach of of the Year on Tuesday night. Spoelstra was one of three finalists for the honor, along with Memphis’ Taylor Jenkins and Williams.
Spoelstra, who has not yet won the NBA’s Coach of the Year award during his NBA career, finished in third place in the voting behind second-place Taylor Jenkins from the Memphis Grizzlies and Williams.
Among the panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters, Spoelstra received one first-place vote, 16 second-place votes and 19 third-place votes.
EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS INFO
The schedule for the Eastern Conference finals, which will be between the winner of the Heat-76ers series and the winner of the Boston Celtics-Milwaukee Bucks series, is becoming clearer.
If the Heat-76ers series, Bucks-Celtics series and Phoenix Suns-Dallas Mavericks series all finish in six games, the NBA announced early Tuesday morning that the schedule for the East finals will be: Game 1 on Sunday, Game 2 on May 17, Game 3 May 21, Game 4 May 23, Game 5 May 25, Game 6 May 27 and Game 7 on May 29.
If any of those series finish in seven games, the schedule for the East finals will be: Game 1 on May 17, Game 2 May 19, Game 3 May 21, Game 4 May 23, Game 5 May 25, Game 6 May 27 and Game 7 on May 29.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 12:23 PM.
