Dragic copes with injured foot
Guard handles pain by cutting hole in basketball shoe.
AU B U R N H I L L S , MI C H . — Goran Dragic is playing with a hole in his sneakers.
The sneakers aren’t defect ive . I ns t e a d, t he Mia mi Heat’s starting point guard is cutting a hole on the left side of his left sneaker near his toes to alleviate the pressure from a painful foot injury.
Sunday’s loss against the Celtics marked the first time Dragic has played with the cut sneaker, and it worked to reduce the pain.
“It’s good. I didn’t have any problems in our last game,” Dragic said Tuesday morning in advance of Miami’s game in Detroit. “It’s different because there’s no pressure on my toe.
“I didn’t have (any) trouble moving. It was not hurting me. It’s not a big deal at all.”
Dragic said the foot issue began because his sneaker was putting pressure on that side of his foot, causing some swelling. It hurts him to put on his left sock and shoe over the affected area.
Entering Tuesday’s game against the Pistons, Dragic is averaging 14.8 points on 33.8 percent shooting over his past four games. He scored 13 points on 6 of 14 shooting against the Celtics on Sunday while playing with the hole in his sneaker.
“Look, it’s painful when you put a shoe on,” he said. “But once it’s on, it’s good.”
Waiters making progress: There is still no timetable for Dion Waiters’ return, but the Heat are encouraged by the progress he’s making in Miami.
Waiters did not travel with the team on its current threegame road trip, as he’s still recovering from a sprained left ankle he suffered on March 17 against the Timberwolves. Coach Erik Spoelstra said Waiters will miss the Heat’s final two games of the trip — Tuesday against the Pistons and Wednesday against the Knicks — as he continues to rehab the injury in Miami.
“He’s getting great work (in Miami),” Spoelstra said Tuesday morning. “At this point, we just want to keep him on track.”
Spoelstra confirmed Tuesday that Waiters did get an MRI o n h i s a n k l e a n d i t came back negative. When asked for the grade of Waiters’ ankle sprain, Spoelstra says doctors did not give one.
Entering Tuesday’s game, the Heat are 1-3 without Waiters since the injury.
Love from an opposing coach: Enjoy watching the Heat play this season?
So does Celtics coach Brad Stevens. Before Sunday’s game between the Heat and Celtics in Boston, Stevens praised coach Erik Spoelstra and his team.
“Their players and coaches deserve a lot of credit,” Stevens said. “It’s not easy to start 11-30 and be able to run off what they’ve run off. I think collectively, they all have a tremendous resiliency to them to be able to do that.
“I couldn’t be more of a fan when I’m watching an NBA team than I have been watching Miami this year.
“I said earlier in the year, I thought that Coach Spoelstra was doing some really unique stuff with James Johnson with the ball as the primary playmaker and putting teams in bad predicaments.
“And that’s shown itself to the point where I think you see some of the actions they’ve been doing around the league now.
“It’s a credit to him and how creative he is, and it’s a credit to all the players with how hard they’re playing. It’s a fun team to watch on both ends of the floor.”
The Heat entered Tuesday in the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot, just a half game ahead of No. 9 Chicago.
Miami began the season with an 11-30 record, but the Heat have won 24 of their past 32 games to climb their way back into the playoff picture.
The Heat have accompl i shed t hi s t ur naro und with a list of injuries. Fourteen Heat players (including Chris Bosh) have combined to miss 299 games due to injuries this season.