Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Oladipo remains out; Vincent also sidelined
PHILADELPHIA — Victor Oladipo’s reintegration into the Miami Heat rotation remains on hold, with the veteran guard to miss his second consecutive game when the Heat play Monday night, not on the trip for the game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Held out of Friday night’s victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder due to lower-right back spasms, Oladipo received that same designation for Monday. Combined with the decision to hold him out of the March 12 game against the Minnesota Timberwolves for rest on the second night of a back-to-back set, it means that, including Monday, Oladipo will have missed three of the past four games, after returning March 7 from May quadriceps surgery.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra downplayed the back issue when he addressed it before the game against the Thunder.
“I think it’s just the added workload,” he said. “You can do everything behind the scenes and all the conditioning and it’s not like real game action. But we’ll definitely be able to manage it. He’s already starting to feel a lot better.”
The Heat also will be without guard Gabe Vincent, who is listed out due to a bruised right big toe. It will be the first injury absence of the season for Vincent, who has started seven of the past 10 games. Vincent’s only missed action this season has been for five games in NBA health-and-safety protocols in January, as well as the four games he was held out by coach’s decision.
Vincent made the trip. Listed as questionable are Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin, who both traveled Sunday.
Butler missed the victory over the Thunder with a sprained right ankle, and again is listed with that ailment. He has missed four of the past eight games, one due to the ankle, one due to sinus congestion and two due to an irritated left big toe.
Martin is listed with a hyperextended left knee, an injury that had him out of three consecutive games prior to Friday’s return.
In addition, the Heat have returned two-way guard Kyle Guy to their G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, while recalling two-way guard Javonte Smart from the Skyforce.
Bounce back
Not listed on the injury report was guard Tyler Herro, who landed awkwardly after a third-quarter shot in Friday’s victory, limped to the locker, but then returned shortly thereafter.
“He’s young,” Spoelstra said. “It scared him more than anything. It just felt awkward. When he fell, he twisted his ankle and his knee a little bit. Once he was able to gather himself and get a feel for it, go back to the locker room, get checked out by the trainers and doc, they gave him the go-ahead and you could see that he was moving fine after that.”
Board battle
With the Heat experimenting with smaller lineups, including Markieff Morris at center, Martin said it means everyone on the floor having an eye on the boards.
“That just means we have to take more pride on the perimeter, to come in and grab more rebounds,” Martin said. “We’ve got to do our job as the wings and the guards, to come and help the bigs. Because obviously that’s one thing ‘Kief emphasized when he came in at the five. He said, ‘Look, I’m just going to the big off the board. You all come in and get you all seven apiece.’
“That just says a lot of the guys that come in, that play selfless basketball. He’s been out for months. So he easily could have been like, ‘Hey, you all box out, let me get my seven.’ “
Tough choices
Monday’s game follows an 8:30 p.m. Sunday home game for the 76ers against the Toronto Raptors, which could lead to availability issues.
“I know they have options, and they were going to talk to me,” center Joel Embiid said. “The goal is obviously to win a championship, and at some point, you’ve got to think about what’s gonna take us there.
“I have to be extremely fresh for the playoffs, so I would imagine I would sit a game or two to finish the year.”