Adebayo returns to Heat starting lineup
Bam Adebayo is back for the Miami Heat. Goran Dragic is still waiting.
Adebayo started Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, the Heat making that determination more than hour before game time. Dragic was ruled out around the same time after he tried to test his torn left plantar fascia in a warmup session.
“Bam is the heart and soul of this team,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before the game.
Adebayo had nine points and four rebounds in 15 minutes in the first half.
The biggest hurdle for Adebayo to clear in his recovery from a neck strain was certain strength tests that the Heat would put him through with hopes of ensuring that he would have an opportunity to get through the rigors of a game. Those tests proved impossible for Adebayo before Game 2 and were not able to be completed to the team’s satisfaction before Game 3.
But what Miami had seen was steady improvement from one day to the next, and there were multiple indicators that Adebayo could be ready for Game 4 — such as him taking the court before Game 3 on Sunday for some light shooting, then the decision by the team on Monday to upgrade his status from doubtful to questionable.
“I don’t miss games,” Adebayo said Monday. “That’s not me. That’s not how I’m built. I want to play. I’ve always been like that.”
Before these Finals, Adebayo had missed only one game for injury — a
sprained ankle cost him one appearance in his rookie season, when he also sat once for personal reasons and 11 times by coach’s decision. He played in all 82 Heat games last season and their first 72 of this season — sitting out the 73rd and final game for rest because it was largely meaningless to Miami.
Dragic hasn’t played since tearing the plantar fascia in the first half of Game 1 of the series against the Lakers. He did some shooting before the game, but his workout ended abruptly after he attempted to move laterally. Dragic was Miami’s second-leading scorer in the regular season behind Jimmy Butler.
GAME MARGINS >> The first three games of these NBA Finals between the Heat and Lakers were all decided by double digits. That’s happened only one other time in the last 15 seasons; the first six games of Cavaliers vs. Warriors in 2016 were all double- digit contests, before the Cavaliers won Game 7 by four
points.
WARRIORS’ BROWN INTERVIEWS WITH CLIPPERS >> Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown recently interviewed for the Clippers’ head- coaching opening, a league source confirmed to the Bay Area News Group. Brown joins Bucks assistant Darvin Ham and Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue as other reported candidates. ESPN was first to report the news. Lue, who won a championship as the Cavaliers head coach in 2016, is considered the front-runner.
Before joining Golden State in 2016, Brown accumulated a 347-216 record as a head coach of the Cavaliers (2005-10, 2013-14) and Lakers (2011-12).
For the past four seasons, Brown has been head coach Steve Kerr’s top assistant. Kerr relies on Brown for his attention to detail and trusts him with substitution patterns during games. When Kerr missed part of the 2017 playoffs with back problems, Brown led the Warriors to an 11- 0 record.