Spoelstra Sends Indirect Challenge to Injured Miami Heat Players

The Miami Heat was just a shot away from reaching the NBA Finals last season. They pushed the eventual Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics to seven games, only to fall short after the missed Jimmy Butler three-pointer. However, many still predicted Miami to be at least one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. So far, that hasn’t been case 18 games in the season. After suffering a 105-101 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Heat have fallen to 7-11 for the season. One of the biggest reasons has been the depleted rotation due to injuries from others, including their top players Butler and Tyler Herro.

Heat Needing Reinforcements

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra knows how tough it is to play without his best players. He’s done it before and sometimes found ways to get it done without them. It just hasn’t been the case this season. And he knows the team cannot afford to fall too deep in the Eastern Conference. If you fall to deep in the standings around January, you lose a shot at the third seed and now found yourself competing for the play-in for a shot at the playoffs. So now, Spoelstra is pleading for some of his injured players to play, even if it’s in limited capacity.

“At some point, hopefully we’ll be getting some guys back. Even if they’re not fully 100 percent, as long as they’re close enough, maybe they can give us a little bit of reinforcement, even if it’s just short minutes,” Spoelstra said.

Depending on Younger Players

For the past three games, the Heat been having seven through nine available players. Against the Timberwolves on Monday, they were without Butler, Herro, Udonis Haslem, Victor Oladipo, Gabe Vincent, Omer Yurtseven, and Duncan Robinson. Six of those players would’ve gotten minutes if healthy. With those players out, it’s forced Kyle Lowry to play big minutes in recent games, including 51 minutes in the overtime loss to the Washington Wizards. Additionally, Spoelstra has also had to depend on inexperienced players like Haywood Highsmith, Jamal Cain, and Nikola Jovic among others. This is why Spoelstra is now pushing more his key players to push through their injuries.

“Just give us whatever you have,” Spoelstra added. “Whatever you have, just give us. If you’re used to playing 30 minutes, just give us 15. If you’re used to playing 20 minutes, give us eight, so we can kind of manage things right now.”

The Heat will host the Wizards on Wednesday at 7pm eastern. Hopefully, when the game tips off, Spoelstra had some extra players back in time.