Problem for the ages
Older veterans Tucker, Lowry pick up slack for injury-ridden roster
MIAMI — To their credit, the 36-year-old power forward has not missed a game this season and the 35-year-old point guard has only missed two.
Yet as the Miami Heat move forward in the injury absences of so many core players, it is a delicate balance for coach Erik Spoelstra between living in the moment and keeping his veterans fresh for later in the season.
To Spoelstra, the view is that neither 36-year-old P.J. Tucker nor 35-year-old Kyle Lowry needed to be coddled, with their conditioning affording the option of playing each as often as needed.
“They’re in great shape. They can handle the minutes,” Spoelstra told the Sun Sentinel. “But we’re going to need contributions from our entire roster. And our guys are prepared for that.”
Going into Wednesday night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks at FTX Arena, Lowry had played at least 36 minutes in four of the previous six games, including 40 in Monday night’s home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
With Tucker, the minutes have been more measured, no more than 32 minutes in any of the eight games leading into Wednesday night.
For the Heat, the ultimate test could be the type of COVID-19related absences that are on the rise around the league, in recent games significantly limiting the rosters of the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls, among other teams.
“We talked about it [Saturday] in the walkthrough,” Spoelstra said of when the Hornets had been hit particularly hard and unexpectedly. “And you just want to be vigilant, but you also don’t want to live in fear. This is our profession. It’s what we’re doing. We want to keep it going. And it’s also dependent on everybody trying to do their part.”
The Heat have been operating as a fully vaccinated team this season, having also gone through a series of booster vaccinations.
Herro, Haslem cited: Heat guard Tyler Herro and power forward Udonis Haslem were among those cited at Tuesday’s Sports Illustrated Awards at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood.
Herro was named Best Dressed athlete, beating out fellow finalists Travis Kelce, Ashlyn Harris, Jordan Clarkson and Tyler Herro.
Haslem and WNBA star Candace Parker were named male and female 2021 Hometown Heroes.
Both Herro and Haslem attended the event. where Tom Brady was named Sportsperson of the Year.
All-Star voting: The NBA announced Wednesday that All-Star voting will begin Dec. 25 and run through Jan. 22.
The Heat last season did not have an All-Star for the first time since 2017.
The team’s most recent All-Stars were Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo in 2020. The Heat have not had a player voted in as a starter since Dwyane Wade in 2016.
The 2022 NBA All-Star Game is Feb. 20 in Cleveland, where the league’s 75th anniversary season will be celebrated.
Fan balloting will account for 50 percent of the vote for All-Star starters, with player and media balloting each accounting for 25 percent of the vote.
Each All-Star ballot allows for voting for three frontcourt players and two guards from each conference.
All-Star starters will be announced Jan. 27, with reserves to be announced Feb. 3.