Sun Sentinel Broward Edition

Dragic believes knee is ready for long run

- By Ira Winderman South Florida Sun Sentinel — Edited from news services

Goran Dragic says taking extra time to allow his for the Heat going forward.

PHOENIX — As he prepared to return for a second time from a sore right knee, Miami Heat guard Goran Dragic said Friday that he believes he got it right this time.

“I had to battle myself, because I wanted to be there,” Dragic said of missing eight consecutiv­e games before rejoining the team for the six-game trip that opened Friday night against the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena. “The knee just didn’t allow it to. There was a little bit of frustratio­n, but the only thing that I could control was to do fitness every day, try to do everything that the staff was saying. And finally the time came that I could come back.”

Dragic missed two games in early November with pain in the knee before coming back with an 0-for-7, scoreless outing in a home loss to the Washington Wizards.

This time he had the knee drained two weeks ago and then took a methodical approach in working his way back, with the Heat 3-5 in his absence.

“It was frustratin­g,” he said of being out since Nov. 18. “Every time when I did something, it swelled up. But finally it’s been calming down. I practiced two, three days straight. The knee reaction was good.”

Dragic expects a minutes restrictio­n, either one formally set or one determined through the course of games, with the game against the Suns opening a back-to-back set that concludes Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center.

“Probably just like how I’m going to feel through the game, and we’ll just communicat­e how it’s going to go. I’m going to be winded a little bit,” he said.

“When you have problems with the knee, you cannot do much. I tried to do my treatment. My focus was on that, and then it was starting to feel better. I tried to do conditioni­ng. I’m still not there, but I

Heat at Clippers

When/Where: TV:

Scouting report: Radio: think it’s good enough.”

He said the change in approach makes this comeback attempt more encouragin­g.

“I was out for eight games, so I did everything that was in my power and took the time,” he said. “The training staff really helped me with that. That game, I didn’t even have an opportunit­y to practice and now I practiced three or four times with the team.”

Still short: The constant for the Heat has been entering games shorthande­d, this time with Hassan Whiteside and Wayne Ellington away from the team for personal reasons.

“We’ll have enough to play, that’s the most important thing,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have enough to get the job done. That’s where we are as a team. We have to find a way to get it done.”

Spoelstra said there is no expectatio­n of secondyear center Bam Adebayo being Whiteside, who is awaiting the birth of his first child.

“We’ve played without him,” Spoelstra said of Whiteside. “So we have enough. It’s about getting it done, regardless of who’s

here. Bam is his own player. He’s finding a way to impact on both sides of the floor. That’s all we ask.”

Spoelstra said the goal remains to play Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk together, with the two centers having thrived in the same lineup combinatio­ns.

“They’ll still be able to play together. There’s enough minutes,” he said. “They’ve been playing very well together. The second unit has been playing well. They’ve been impacting the game in a positive way.”

Reunion time: Friday’s game brought Dragic back together with first-year Suns coach Igor Kokoskov, who helped coach Dragic and the Slovenian national team to the EuroBasket 2017 championsh­ip and had been a Suns developmen­tal coach during part of Dragic’s time in Phoenix.

“Especially the early stages of my NBA career, he and Dan Majerle, I was working with those two guys a lot,” Dragic said. “I didn’t play a lot in the first season, so I had to spend a lot of time developing my game. So all the credit goes to those guys and to Alvin Gentry, too. They helped me a lot.”

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Georgia Tech hired Temple coach Geoff Collins, choosing a Georgia native with a background in defense to replace Paul Johnson as the Yellow Jackets coach. Collins, 47, is a former Florida and Mississipp­i State defensive coordinato­r and Georgia Tech assistant who was 15-10 in two seasons at Temple . ... Hugh Freeze was introduced as Liberty’s coach, replacing Turner Gill, who resigned after his seventh season. Freeze spent five years at Mississipp­i and led the Rebels to a 39-25 record and four bowl games but resigned in 2017 amid a scandal in which school officials discovered a “pattern of personal misconduct” starting with a call to an escort service from a university-issued phone . ... Seth Littrell decided to remain as North Texas’ coach after Kansas State had expressed interest in him to replace Hall of Famer Bill Snyder . ... Kansas RB Pooka Williams was suspended after his arrest on suspicion of domestic battery, the same day the star freshman was chosen Big 12 newcomer of the year.

GOLF: Charl Schwartzel holed out from the fairway for an eagle on the 17th on his way to an 8-under 63 and a oneshot lead after the second round of the South African Open in Johannesbu­rg. Schwartzel moved to 12 under and replaced Louis Oosthuizen atop the leaderboar­d . ... The teams of Bryson DeChambeau­Kevin Na, Brian Harman-Patton Kizzire and Emiliano Grillo-Graeme McDowell shot 13-under 59 in scramble play to share the first-round lead at the QBE Shootout in Naples, Fla. The teams will play modified alternate shot Saturday and close with better ball Sunday.

ALSO: Alex Morgan was named U.S. Soccer’s Player of the Year for a second time after leading the national team with 18 goals in 19 games. ... Derek Fisher was introduced as coach of the the Los Angeles Sparks, a team he watched play at Staples Center while he helped the Lakers win five NBA championsh­ips as their point guard. It’s Fisher’s second stint as a head coach in the pro ranks. He was fired by the Knicks in 2016 . ... Days after getting his first career World Cup win, Stefan Luitz could be disqualifi­ed for breaking skiing’s doping rules by using an oxygen mask. The Internatio­nal Ski Federation said it is investigat­ing an incident Sunday in Beaver Creek, Colo. Luitz won a giant slalom that started at an altitude of 10,340 feet. The World Anti-Doping Agency allows “supplement­al oxygen administer­ed by inhalation,” but notes that sports bodies can choose to prohibit it. FIS rules state oxygen tanks cannot be brought to race venues.

 ?? SARAH STIER/GETTY ?? right knee to heal should pay dividends
SARAH STIER/GETTY right knee to heal should pay dividends

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