Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Nod toward health
Spoelstra wants Heat to become ‘cave’ men as Butler, Lowry recover
MIAMI — Time is on the Miami Heat’s side. And at this point of the NBA calendar, there are few more significant commodities.
With Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry missing Tuesday night’s series-clinching 97-94 victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks, both now have until Monday to get back to speed. That’s when the Heat’s Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Philadelphia 76ers or Toronto Raptors will open at FTX Arena, with those tickets going on sale Wednesday.
“The next couple of days,” coach Erik Spoelstra said, “all we do is just watch what’s going on. I just want everybody living in the training room. Go back to our cave, bandage up, hopefully get healthy.
“And then we’ll see what happens in that series. But definitely guys have earned a couple of days of just quality rest and treatment.”
The 76ers, who are up 3-2, can close out the Raptors in Thursday night’s Game 6 in Toronto. Otherwise, that series would come down to a winner-take-all Game 7 Saturday in Philadelphia.
A source familiar with Butler’s knee inflammation and Lowry’s hamstring strain said it is possible one or both might have been able to play had a Thursday Game 6 been needed against the Hawks.
Instead, what was diagnosed as a Grade 1 strain for Lowry will get the benefit of the added time, after he was injured during the third quarter of Friday night’s Game 3 road loss to the Hawks.
With Butler, the team did not even deem the need for an MRI, another encouraging sign.
“Obviously any time we can get to rest those guys and for us to finish out the job is good for all of us,” reserve forward Caleb Martin said.
With Gabe Vincent starting in place of Lowry for a second consecutive game and Victor Oladipo starting in place of Butler, the Heat were able to ease the pain of two of their team leaders.
“They just infused great life into our guys, particularly when it got a little bit uneven,” Spoelstra said of the courtside support from Butler and Lowry. “Guys were just coming back to the bench and they see Jimmy and Kyle right in there in the mix. It’s hard not to just gain confidence from that.”
Oladipo said the boost was tangible.
“Jimmy helped me a lot in the fourth quarter. I appreciate him,” he said. “We appreciate Kyle. And we can’t wait ‘til they get healthy and get back out there helping us win.”
Center Bam Adebayo said the opportunity to decompress also is embraced.
“Guys need that rest,” he said, “they need that mental break, and we get back at it in the next series.”
Martin’s moment
Already without Butler and Lowry, it appeared the Heat might lose Martin as well, when he began clutching his wrist after taking a bump during Tuesday night’ first half.
“Actually,” he said, “I just hit like in my funny bone in a like pretty sensitive spot. So like I just had a shooting pain, like a burning sensation all the way up my arm. So it just lasted like a couple of minutes.
“It kind of wore off as the second half started. I’m good.”
Tuesday was Martin’s best performance of the series, with 10 points and four rebounds.
“I feel like I’d been passive the whole, entire series,” he said. “I’m not really at my best when I’m passive. I’d seen it the last couple of games, so I just wanted to make sure I do the best I could and making sure I kind of followed myself, and not just float around out there.
“I just wanted to keep guys honest and make something happen, be a part of what’s going on and continue to find shots and opportunity to put the ball in the hole.”
Futile finish
Off an inbounds play down three with 5.2 seconds to play, the Hawks first had to burn their final timeout and then were unable to get the ball to intended targets Trae Young or Danilo Gallinari, instead winding up with a game-closing turnover that was credited as an Adebayo steal.
“They basically bodied us,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “They bodied us up and basically just took us out of our cuts, forced the pass inside.
“We had two options on that. The first option was Trae Young. The second option was Gallo. They just blew that play up. It was good defense by them.”
Said Gallinari: “They doubleteamed the corner. I had no outlets and no time to do anything else. They played smart defense.”