Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Robinson: Ailing finger not fully healed
No, he wasn’t cooling his shooting hand, as he soaked it in an ice bucket late Wednesday night in the locker room at Barclays Center, not after a 2-of-7 night from the field.
Instead, it actually was part of Duncan Robinson’s attempt to warm back to the game, after six weeks and 20 games out of the Miami Heat mix.
That, if not the final score in the 116-105 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, was a heartening aspect of the Heat’s final game before their eight-day All-Star break.
Out since Jan. 2, Robinson not only was in the Heat mix, but played 23:21, his presence needed amid the injury absences of Tyler Herro, Victor Oladipo and Kyle Lowry.
And he felt it afterward.
The surgery on the second finger on his right hand was deemed a success but actually remains a work in progress.
“I mean,” he said, “the reality of it is it doesn’t get better for a while, completely better. It’s repaired, so that’s what’s most important. So it’s definitely enough to be out there and be effective.”
All seven of Robinson’s Wednesday attempts were 3-pointers, the specialty that led to the five-year, $90 million contract he signed in the 2021 offseason. It is an aspect where the Heat have been severely lacking this season.
“I believe in my ability to make shots,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for a little while. So it’s whatever this team needs, honestly. If that’s it, for sure. I want to fill my role to the best of my ability. I feel like I’m capable for sure of making shots at a high level. So it’s a matter of time.”
But it’s also not as if time has fully healed this wound, with the pain lingering.
“I mean, just a little bit,” he said. “That’s not going to go anywhere anytime soon. That was one of the things I knew when I elected to do the procedure, is that there was going to be pain. But it’s significantly less than it was before.
“It functioned better than it was before. So, like I said, it felt good, it really did.”
The initial plan, Robinson acknowledged, was a return after the All-Star break. Then the team’s injuries altered the timetable.
“I wanted to try to play as soon as possible,” the fifth-year guard said. “It was kind of a back and forth with the training staff. To be honest with you, for the majority of it, it was always going to be after All-Star [break]. That was kind of what was communicated.
“Especially with us being down the way we are, just numbers wise, and these guys are playing super heavy minutes, I felt like I was good enough to go. And we just kind of ramped it up at the last second, and felt good enough, and
it was tolerating everything. So I wanted to come back, get one underneath the belt, and obviously now there’s the break. A little bit of a weird situation, but I just really wanted to be there for everybody.”
The timetables of Herro, Oladipo and Lowry likely will have an impact on what comes next for Robinson, who had been largely shuffled out of the rotation prior to his surgery.
But at least the option of the franchise’s all-time 3-point leader is back in place.
“That was probably one of the highlights of [Wednesday night],” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He really pushed to get out there. I think that will help him after the break, as well.
“It was just good to have him back in the mix.”
A constant with Robinson, 28, had been that he does not miss games due to injuries. Prior to this layoff, he had not missed more than three games in a season beyond a rookie season spent
largely in the G League.
“I always want to be available,” he said. “I pride myself on being available, being someone who’s reliable. And it was a really tough decision, one that weighed on me for a while, part of the reason I took a while to actually elect to get the procedure.
“But I knew it was ultimately the right one I had to make. But definitely a challenge watching these guys play some great basketball through some really tough stretches, so I just want to try to come back and help in any way I can.”