An update on who’s available to play for Heat. And Barkley, Pierce losing patience
The Heat, which has played without several key players during a disastrous three-week January stretch, could get Jimmy Butler back on Saturday while awaiting the return of a few other rotation players.
The Heat listed Butler as questionable for Saturday’s 8 p.m. home game against Sacramento, but there is optimism he will play. If he surprisingly doesn’t, a return appears likely by Monday at the latest. The five-time All-Star, who missed time while in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, has not played since the Heat’s Jan. 9 road win over the Washington Wizards.
The Heat, which had only 10 players available in Thursday’s loss to the Clippers, listed nine others on the injury report for the Kings game:
Tyler Herro (more neck issues), Avery Bradley (right knee contusion), Andre Iguodala (neck spasms), Udonis Haslem (personal reasons) and Butler are questionable.
Goran Dragic (left groin strain), Maurice Harkless (left thigh contusion), Meyers Leonard (left shoulder strain) and Chris Silva (left hip flexor strain) are out. Gabe Vincent is probable.
Miami is 13th in the East at 6-12 but stands just three games out of the sixth spot. Only Detroit, Washington and Minnesota have worse records among the NBA’s 30 teams.
In some ways, Heat players have felt helpless this season.
“The corona thing, where we had all the guys in Boston that had to go home, we couldn’t control that,” said Herro, who returned after missing seven games with neck and shoulder pain but whose status is now in question for Saturday. “My injury, obviously nothing that I can control with that. So this is different things that we don’t have control over.
“And with this crazy time and the time that we’re living in right now, this is what it is. And who knows? There could be something else that pops up tomorrow or next week, in two weeks.”
Herro reiterated that “I know this team is special. We are talented and we are one of the best teams in the East. And we’re going to figure it out soon.”
Herro acknowledged that one problem is there are “times where we don’t look like ourselves. I don’t know if we get bored with what’s working or what.”
This is Miami’s first five-game losing streak since early in 2018.
Adebayo delivered this message to Heat fans after Thursday’s 109-105 loss to a Clippers team missing All Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and defensive wizard Patrick Beverley: “Heat Nation, we are going to figure this out. Bear with us.”
Adebayo noted that he “was looking around the locker room [Thursday] and we only had two guys that were above three years that played today. We are going to turn this season around. We are going to look at ourselves in the mirror and figure it out.”
PIERCE, BARKLEY SPEAK OUT
Count network TV analysts and Hall of Fame players Paul Pierce and Charles Barkley among those unwilling to excuse Miami’s poor play.
PIerce blasted the Heat for allowing an easy basket on a full-court Nikola Jokic pass — on an inbounds play, no less — in Wednesday’s loss to Denver.
“As great as the Miami Heat were in the playoffs last year, they will not make the playoffs this year,” Pierce, who has been critical of the Heat in the past, said on ESPN’s The Jump on Thursday afternoon. “We saw a play [with Jokic catching Miami’s defense napping]. That’s not the Miami Heat team we saw last year, full of grit and grime. That team was built on hard work and toughness and I haven’t seen that this year.”
Meanwhile, Barkley was dumbfounded that the Heat lost to a Clippers team without three of their best players.
“Come on, Miami,” Barkley said on TNT’s Inside The NBA. “This is a bad loss. This is not a good look.”
When host Ernie Johnson noted that Butler and Dragic were sidelined for the game, Barkley snapped: “They got Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. Stop it, Ernie. You’ve got to win that game. If you play the Clippers without George and Leonard, you should beat them.”
TIMEOUT ISSUES
For the second time in a week, Spoelstra’s attempt to call a late-game timeout went unnoticed by game officials.
Spoelstra tried to call timeout in the final 15 seconds, with his team down four, but believes the officials couldn’t hear him.
“Those are tough situations,” Spoelstra said. “I’ve been scolded before for running over halfcourt, calling timeout. Nobody was listening. I’ve got the God-dang mask on. It’s happened twice. I’m not going to continue to make this mistake. My body is going to be out there.”
▪ Beyond Herro’s offensive skills (he’s averaging 17.7 points per game), his return also will help the league’s worst rebounding team.
With 10 rebounds in Thursday’s loss to the Clippers, Herro now stands second among shooting guards in rebounds per game at 7.0, behind only the Pelicans’ Josh Hart, who averages 7.7.
Herro would rank fourth in that category if compared to point guards, with Luka Doncic first at 9.4 per game.
But he’s questionable for Saturday; it’s unclear if he re-aggravated the neck injury against the Clippers. The team did not practice on Friday.
▪ The Heat has used 14 different starters this season, most in the league.
This story was originally published January 29, 2021 at 5:30 PM.
