While it has been a tumultuous season for the Miami Heat in terms of their injury problems this season, especially at this part of the year, fans were concerned to see star Bam Adebayo added to the report before Wednesday's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was announced by the team to be questionable with a back injury and eventually sat out the game as the Heat's big-man spoke after the contest to delve deeper into why he was absent from the outing.
Adebayo in the past has had back injuries, which likely prompted Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra to play it safe with the star and sit him out against the Cavs. The University of Kentucky product would speak to the media after and say he had a conversation with Spoelstra and because players like Jimmy Butler and Nikola Jovic were coming back, that “it was time to take one” according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel.
“Sat down, had a conversation with Coach,” Adebayo said. “We got guys back, so he told me it was time to take one.”
Butler and Jovic had missed the past two games prior to the win against the Cavs where Adebayo was the main, featured player in the Heat's offense and defense. When asked if the back injury is something to be concerned about, Adebayo would soften the issue saying that it is merely “maintenance” and that he will be “all right.”
“More maintenance than anything,” Adebayo said of Wednesday’s break. “I’ll be all right.”
Adebayo talks being the captain from the sidelines
Instead of being a leader on the court, he had to continue his captain duties on the sidelines during the outing in Cleveland which was a position filled in before by Heat legend Udonis Haslem. However, he would admit after the game that he is still getting used to “talking on the sidelines” and much prefers “being out there” with his teammates.
“I don’t like talking on the sidelines, being that captain,” Adebayo said via The Sun Sentinel. “I like being out there trying to help my guys win.”
Adebayo talks about hopeful “dope experience” when Heat are healthy
The comments from Adebayo comes after past quotes he said about being eager for the whole team to be fully healthy again, which by some could be a naive point of view with the amount of injuries the team has had the past two seasons. However, if there has been a team that overcomes those hurdles in the postseason, it has been the Heat.
“It’s going to be a dope experience just for all of us to be healthy again, all of us be out together and all of us try to figure out how we can get wins and make a deep playoff run,” Adebayo said after Miami lost to the Philadelphia 76ers last Monday.
Adebayo not frustrated with the bevy of changes due to injury for Miami
In terms of the injury report besides Adebayo, the Heat are missing Duncan Robinson who missed Wednesday with a back injury plus the continued absences of Tyler Herro (right foot medial tendinitis) and Kevin Love (right heel bruise) who have missed 13 and 11 games straight respectively. However, Adebayo expressed that he is not frustrated in the amount of moving parts the team has had with injuries.
“No, because you can’t dictate injuries,” Adebayo said as he is averaging 19.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, and four assists per game while shooting 51.7 percent from the field. “You can’t tell guys to play through some injuries that are obviously really bothering them — me included. For us, it’s next man up always. We’ve won games with eight guys before. So when you got guys out, you still have a chance.”
With 13 games left in the regular season, Miami has little to no room for error as every game matters especially in a tightly packed Eastern Conference where they are placed seventh with a 38-31 record. They start a four-game home stand Friday where they will take on the New Orleans Pelicans.
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