As the Miami Heat take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night, the team once again features a lengthy injury report filled with key players. With the Heat’s injury woes continuing, such names as Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, and others are in doubt for the contest as the team looks to snap a two-game skid.
Herro missed the loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday night due to what was labeled as a “head cold” as he is “questionable” with the same listing. He’s Miami’s lone All-Star this season as he’s in the midst of his best year yet with the team, so losing him any game will be a tough hill to climb.
As for Wiggins, he’s missed the last four games with a right ankle sprain as he is once again “questionable” along with Jaime Jaquez Jr. who has the same issue and missed the last three contests. One crucial player who won’t play Friday is rookie Kel’el Ware who deals with a left knee sprain and will miss his third straight game.
The Heat rookie didn’t play the majority of the heartbreaking loss to the New York Knicks on March 2, which was a questionable decision for some towards head coach Erik Spoelstra. However, while he would end up being injured, Spoelstra would say after the game that he was “fine.”
Heat’s Bam Adebayo on missing key players
During the Heat’s loss to the Cavs on Wednesday night, it featured another time where the team had a late lead blown where they ended up losing the game. However, the team was without Herro, Ware, Jaquez, Wiggins, and Nikola Jovic who is still out with a broken hand.
The Heat’s new double-double leader all-time Bam Adebayo had a fantastic game where he scored a career-high 34 points on 11 for 18 shooting from the field, making three of his five attempts from deep. Going along with 12 rebounds, five assists, and two steals, Adebayo explained why the defeat was “tough” according to The Miami Herald.
“It’s tough when you’re down dudes and still have a chance to win and it slips out of your hands,” Adebayo said. “As you see we can hang with the best of them.”
Even with the loss, Spoelstra found the bright side saying that he has been seeing “improvements” according to The Sun Sentinel.
“There’s been intention from the players to really try to help each other get good shots,” Spoelsra said. “I really love that quality about this team. There’s significant improvement on both sides of the ball. Defensively, we’re playing way more consistently, making it tough. And then offensively, we’ve probably had the biggest jumps of improvement the last three weeks.”
“The pain’s got to hurt enough to put us over the top,” Spoelstra continued.
At any rate, Miami is 28-31 which puts them seventh in the East before Friday’s game against Minnesota as they start a five-game home stand.
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