Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Season finale takes scary turn
Forward Jones gets wheeled off court in a neck brace in defeat against Indiana
A meaningless season finale took a sobering turn Friday for the Miami Heat when forward Derrick Jones Jr. was wheeled off the court in a neck brace after absorbing a blow to his shoulder and neck on a hard screen in the third quarter of a 109-92 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Ultimately, it just proved to be a neck strain, with the Heat issuing a statement two hours after the game that said, “After an MRI, CT scan and concussion test, the Heat announce that Derrick Jones Jr. has suffered a neck strain. Jones, Jr. will be re-evaluated again over the weekend.”
The news came as a relief to all involved.
“It just takes the air out of the building,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Even as competitors, you don’t want it on either side. You just want to be able to get through this game and be able to have everybody available for the playoffs.”
Jones was moving his extremities as he was taken off the court.
“He got jarred in the shoulderneck area,” Spoelstra said. “Obviously, a little bit more than a stinger.”
With the game played in the absence of fans at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex, amid the new coronavirus pandemic, the arena went silent as numerous medical officials tended to Jones.
ESPN reported that Spoelstra had hoped to limit Jones’ time in the game that did not impact the playoff placement. Instead, Jones went down with 1:05 to play in the third quarter while absorbing a blow from a legal screen set by Indiana’s Goga Bitadze.
“Look, things are going to happen. You can’t just always be on eggshells,” Spoelstra said.
Guard Kendrick Nunn said the tension was palpable.
“We’re just keeping D. Jones in our prayers and hopefully get well and recover from that,” he said ahead of the team’s statement. Spoelstra took a prudent approach against the team the Heat will face in their playoff opener Tuesday, holding out Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Goran Dragic, Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala.
About the only significance in the game for the Heat was an attempt to get Nunn back on track, after his struggles to open the eight seeding games and then missing the three prior to Friday.
The game was Nunn’s return from self-quarantine after briefly leaving the Disney bubble for a personal matter. He closed 8 of 27 from the field, including 1 of 9 on 3-pointers, for 23 points.
With caution ruling the day, Spoelstra opened with a lineup of Nunn, Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, Kelly Olynyk … and team captain Udonis Haslem making his fourth appearance of the season and first start. Haslem then drained his first 3-pointer since 2017, late in a first half that ended with the Pacers up 58-44.
The Pacers also erred on the side of caution, holding out Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner and T.J. Warren.
Five degrees of Heat from Thursday’s game:
1. Seeding story: The teams entered with identical 44-28 records, with the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference at stake.
However, with no homecourt advantage in the No. 4-No. 5 firstround series and the games played on Disney’s neutral courts amid the new coronavirus pandemic, about the only difference was which team’s game-night scheme would be in place in the series’ first two games.
The No. 4 seed receives about $40,000 more as a team from the league’s playoff pool.
2. Nunn sense: If the goal were to get Nunn back in a rhythm, it didn’t exactly set up that way.
“I mean that’s the most important things, is just the minutes,” said Spoelstra, who played Nunn for 32:58. “I’m not even really evaluating. He’ll have some good days of work ahead.”
Nunn said his bout with COVID-19 in June and late arrival to the Disney bubble has left him feeling behind.
“Honestly,” he said, “it’s a little tough with being away from the game for so long and having COVID. It’s a lot of things held up against me. But I’m controlling what I can control. I’m back on the floor now and just trying to get in rhythm. Definitely get my conditioning up, and I think I’ll be good. I felt pretty good out there today.”
3. Haslem time: With so many rotation players held out, Haslem not only made his fourth appearance of the season, but also his first start since the final game of last season, on Dwyane Wade’s retirement night.
This time the start was the 500th of 40-year-old’s career.
“It gives me a chance and an opportunity to lead and do it by example,” he said. “So sometimes instead of hearing it, those guys see it and it translates a little better.” Haslem had played 21 total minutes this season prior to Friday, getting the minutes a game after he was a healthy scratch for the first time in his Heat career.
He closed with seven points and eight rebounds in 23:31.
“There will be a day, hopefully that’s not for a while, where I don’t have UD in my locker room as a player,” Spoelstra said. “I’m really going to miss that. That’s why I’m just enjoying all of these moments.”
4. Adebayo streak over: Amid Spoelstra’s lineup caution, Adebayo’s streak of 158 consecutive appearances came to an end.
The franchise record remains the 174 in a row by Glen Rice from March 1992 to April 1994. The only other Heat players with 160 or more consecutive appearances are Grant Long (161, from November 1990 to April 1992) and Norris Cole (December 2012 to November 2014).
Adebayo’s streak began on April 4, 2018.
“I thought about it,” Spoelstra said of a token appearance so Adebayo could extend the streak, “but we have bigger things in mind right now. We hope to have him for a long, long time, and there are going to be a lot of other records he’ll be involved with and hopefully breaking some records.”
5. Robinson’s also over: After going 0 for 3 on 3-pointers in the first half, Robinson was held out of the second half.
That ended Robinson’s Heatrecord streak of 57 games with at least one conversion, having broken Rafer Alston’s team record of 49.
NBA record is 157 by Stephen Curry, from 2014-16.
Robinson had held the NBA’s third-longest active streak, behind the 66 games of the Kings’ Buddy Hield and the 60 games of the Nets’ Joe Harris.