Oladipo remains out with knee injury

Victor Oladipo continues to be sidelined for the Miami Heat by what’s being called “right knee soreness” by the organization, with his status for the remainder of the season continuing to be unknown.

Oladipo was listed as out for the Miami Heat’s (28-28) Sunday matchup versus the Brooklyn Nets (38-18) at AmericanAirlines Arena.

He didn’t accompany the team on its four-game road trip after injuring the leg in the Heat’s home win against the Los Angeles Lakers on April 8, limping to the team’s locker room after landing awkwardly following a dunk in the fourth quarter of the 110-104 victory.

Oladipo, who turns 29 in May and is approaching unrestricted free agency during the offseason, sustained a ruptured quad tendon injury in his right knee on Jan. 23, 2019, while with the Indiana Pacers. It forced him to miss missed the remainder of the 201819 season.

He returned to the floor for the Pacers on Jan. 29, 2020, playing 19 games for them last season and nine this season before being sent to the Rockets in January as a part of the trade package that sent James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets, with Oladipo playing 20 games for Houston before the Heat acquired him at the trade deadline.

Oladipo, who hasn’t played in both games on consecutive days since sustaining the quad injury, has only played in four games for the Heat.

The Heat went 1-3 during the game road trip, dropping consecutive games to the Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Heat will play at home for their next two games — versus the Nets on Sunday and Houston Rockets on Monday — before two road games against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday and Atlanta Hawks on Friday.

Also on the Heat’s Saturday evening injury report were: Andre Iguodala, who was listed as questionable with left hip soreness, and Gabe Vincent, who was listed as probable with right knee soreness.

Iguodala missed the Heat’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, formally being listed as out due to hip soreness, but missing the game appeared to be more about resting the 37-year-old forward during a stretch of eight games in 12 days.

“That is us being smart, or trying to be smart,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said on Friday, “about his health and the schedule.”

For the Nets, All-Star guard James Harden remains sidelined due to a right hamstring strain that he sustained at the beginning of the month.

Harden, the league’s leader in assists average with 10.9 to go along with 25.2 points per game, has missed Brooklyn’s last five games due to the injury, with the Nets going 3-2 in his recent absence and 4-5 in games Harden didn’t play for them since he joined the team in mid-January..

Bench woes

There has been a troubling trend in all of the Heat’s losses during their current three-game losing streak: score at least 30 points and take a lead after the first quarter; struggle to score 25 points in the second period; regain the scoring punch in the third before the offensive production drops again in the fourth quarter.

The Heat’s first-quarter offensive rating during the losing streak of 136 dropped to a league-worst 82.9 in the second quarter, rising back up to 115.1 in the third period before dropping back down to 84.3 in the fourth.

The team’s bench has averaged 33.7 points — No. 23 in the league — this season, a dip from the 41.8 scoring average the bench averaged last season, which was the sixth-best mark in the league.

But Goran Dragic pointed to the Heat’s defense as to why the bench would quickly relinquish leads.

“The last three games our defense didn’t travel,” Dragic said. “That’s the issue.”

During the losing streak, the Heat’s bench ranks 25th in the league in points average (27.7) and field goal percentage (35.3).

Second-year guard Tyler Herro has particularly struggled during this stretch, averaging 6.3 points and 3.3 assists on 28.6 percent shooting over the last three games.