A better Christmas
The Heat are in a better position this season than last at the holiday
The visions were greater than 17-16 at the Christmas break, but the Miami Heat remain appreciative of being in a competitive position.
Because a year ago, at their holiday break, the Heat stood 10-21, at the start of a six-game losing streak.
“But we’re greedy,” guard Goran Dragic said. “We still think we can be in a better position. But ... it’s nice to have some days off now with the holidays here and try to spend it with family and kind of get energized again, fill our batteries and try to win some games.”
Not only are each of the next three games against opponents with losing records, starting with Tuesday night’s game against the Orlando Magic at AmericanAirlines Arena, but five of the next six are at home.
“We’re definitely trending in the right direction,” guard Wayne Ellington said, with the Heat with victories in six of their past nine games. “I think we’re starting to hit a nice stride.
“You’ll start to see bodies come back, guys get healthy and you’ll see us take a huge leap.”
As always, coach Erik Spoelstra has refused to allow injury discussion to get in the way, still unclear about the timetables for Hassan Whiteside, Justise Winslow, Dion Waiters, Rodney McGruder and Okaro White.
In addition, there now is a lack of clarity with James Johnson, with the forward able to play only 8:09 in Friday’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans after returning from a three-game absence with ankle bursitis.
“I still think there’s some really good things going on with our team, despite the injuries, despite some of the adversity we’re going through,” said Spoelstra, who gave his team Sunday and Monday off. “I like the direction we’re going.
“We’ll just have to gather ourselves, get some rest, hopefully get some healthy bodies back for the Orlando game. And if we don’t, we have enough.”
Them, too
Like the Heat, the Magic have been ravaged by injuries in recent weeks.
Orlando’s injury report includes such lineup mainstays as Evan Fournier, Aaron Gordon, Terrence Ross and Nikola Vucevic, as well as emerging rookie Jonathan Isaac.
The latest blow was the fractured finger suffered in Saturday’s blowout road loss to the Washington Wizards.
“I’ve never been part of a team that had so many injuries, and most of them are for quite some time,” Vucevic told the Orlando Sentinel. “So it’s very unfortunate.”
Magic veteran big man Marreese Speights, like Spoelstra, said no one wants to hear excuses.
“You can’t really make an excuse,” he said, now to be counted upon along with Bismack Biyombo to help compensate for the extended absence of Vucevic. “The other teams ain’t going to make excuses for us. They’re going to try to beat us to death.”
The numbers
Ellington went into the Christmas break with 91 3-pointers, the most off the bench in the NBA this season, ahead of the 82 off the bench by Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kyle Korver . ...
Ellington’s 91 3-pointers are the second most by a Heat player through the team’s first 33 games. Only Damon Jones made more, with 96 over the first 33 games in 2004-05 . ...
With Friday night’s 10-of-32 shooting against the Pelicans, the Heat have converted at least 10 3-pointers in 21 of their past 23 games . ...
In the wake of the previous injury of Dragic and now the absence of Waiters, Tyler Johnson has starting four consecutive games for just the second time in his career, also having done so from Jan. 17, 2016 to Jan. 22, 2016 . ...
Forced into action by the Heat’s injuries, Udonis Haslem has now appeared in four consecutive games for the first time since last January. Haslem’s 838 appearances are second in the franchise record book to Dwyane Wade‘s 855.