Dragic receives cortisone shot in right foot
Goran Dragic (7) took an injection out Thursday’s practice.
MIAMI — A foot issue that has lingered since the preseason kept Goran Dragic out of practice Thursday, with the Miami Heat point guard hopeful that a cortisone injection will reduce his ongoing discomfort.
“It’s going on like two weeks,” he said of the pain in his right foot. “Get a lot of pain after practice and during the games. We just want to go and treat it first and see if it’s going to be any better. But you’re always pounding in this, so it’s always the same or worse. Then we just decided yesterday, I went and got a shot.
“The doc said usually when you get cortisone shots, it takes like 48 hours, and, after, it calms down. So it’s still early, but we’ll see.”
The Heat next play Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks on the second stop of a three-game trip. Dragic has yet to miss time during the season with the ailment.
“We did MRI before the season,” he said. “I had some ligaments, partial strain. It’s an awkward area, because it’s a joint, so you cannot get a lot of circulation.”
Dragic, 32, said surgery is not a consideration. He missed seven games last season: three with a sore left elbow, two with a bruised left knee, one with a sprained right ankle and one with a sore knee.
Still working: James Johnson did not travel for Tuesday’s loss to the Charlotte Hornets, but the sidelined forward got in court time nonetheless.
Still working back from hernia surgery, Johnson said the goal remains to get in as much work as possible.
“Working every day,” he said. “Trying to get two-aday in, just so I can get on the court as much as I can, get the conditioning in as much as I can, and the rest of that is just patience.”
He said it was important to be on the AmericanAirlines Arena practice court while teammates were playing in Charlotte.
“This is just normal routine,” he said. “Like I said, two-a-days every day. I want to get back and I’m doing whatever it takes.”
But he also appreciates there is only so much that can be done to simulate game conditioning.
“I don’t think you can ever get in game conditioning just running lines and riding the bike and whatnot,” he said. “Basketball is continuous play, sliding your feet, playing defense, jumping. You’re never going to get into that good of a shape, but I’ve got to get into the best shape I possibly can, so I don’t fatigue, muscles don’t fatigue and things like that, so I’m able to play a longer stint.”
Wade on Rose: Having spent time at the start of last season as Derrick Rose’s teammate with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, Heat guard Dwyane Wade said it was heartening to see Rose score 50 points Wednesday night for the Minnesota Timberwolves against the Utah Jazz.
“As you heard people say, he put’s so much work into his body,” Wade said of the oft-injured guard. “Once you go through the injuries he went through, your body is not the same. You’ve got to get used to a new body.
“Everyone has seen that. Even last year in Cleveland in training camp, ‘Bron got hurt and Derrick was the best player in training camp. Then he got hurt in the second game of the year. It’s never been about talent, it’s been about his body.”
Then came Wednesday night.
“He put so much work in, so to see him have that performance, have that moment, it was so good to see,” Wade said. “The message was strong for anybody that’s been through something: It’s never giving up on yourself and others never giving up on you, as well.” L.A. Clippers at Orlando, 7 Houston at Brooklyn, 7:30 Okla. City at Wash., 8 Indiana at Chicago, 8 New York at Dallas, 8:30 Memphis at Utah, 9 Toronto at Phoenix, 10
Dwight Howard is scheduled to make his Wizards debut against the Thunder on Friday in Washington.
Wizards coach Scott Brooks said his team’s new center practiced Thursday and will start against the Thunder.
The Wizards are off to a 1-6 start without Howard. He missed all of training camp, the preseason and the first seven games of the regular season because of a sore backside.
G J.R. Smith said he wants to be traded from the Cavaliers. Smith, 33, who’s been dropped from the rotation, said he hasn’t formally requested a trade but that the front office already was aware of his feelings.
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Totals
Denver
Cleveland
3-ptrs: Den 10-26 (Hernangomez 5-8, Morris 1-1, Millsap 1-1, Craig 1-2, Beasley 1-4, Harris 1-5, Jokic 0-1, Murray 0-1, Lyles 0-3), Cleveland 5-18 (Hill 2-2, Osman 2-6, Sexton 1-1, Korver 0-1, Dekker 0-2, Clarkson 0-3, Hood 0-3). Played, did not score: Akoon-Purcell. Rebs: Den 44 (Lyles 8), Cle 35 (Thompson 7). Asts: Dem 22 (Beasley 4), Cle 18 (Hood, Thompson 4). Fouls: Den 18, Cle 22. A:19,432.
LATE WED: LAKERS 114, MAVERICKS 113 3-ptrs: Asts: Fouls: 3-ptrs: OKC 8-37 (Abrines 5-10, Schroder 2-6, Grant 1-3), Char 11-41 (Monk 4-12, Batum 2-4, Walker 2-8, Hernangomez 1-1, Parker 1-2, Lamb 1-7). Rebs: OKC 49 (Adams 12), Charlotte 51 (Lamb, Kidd-Gilchrist 9). Asts: Oklahoma City 20 (Westbrook 10), Charlotte 26 (Walker, Batum 6). Fouls: OKC 21, Char 26. Tech: Westbrook.A: 14,583 (19,077).
WED: WARRIORS 131, PELICANS 121