After an historic performance from Miami Heat star Duncan Robinson Sunday against the Detroit Pistons where he became the fastest player in NBA history to reach 1000 made three-pointers, he left vs. the Philadelphia 76ers Monday with a back injury. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and Robinson would provide more information about the severity of the injury after the loss to the 76ers.
Robinson was ineffective against the 76ers until he left the third quarter with back discomfort as he had three points, only making one shot out of five attempts. Spoelstra sad after the game that Robinson “couldn't move coming into the game,” but still wanted to be out there with his Heat teammates according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel.
“You absolutely love Duncan,” Spoelstra said. “He couldn’t move coming into the game – just the workload, everything (Sunday), the flight, or whatever – he just couldn’t move. But he’s a competitor and he’s like, ‘Whatever we need, I’ll be out there.’ And it was tough.”
Robinson reveals he has been “dealing with” back injury recently
Robinson would also speak to the media after the rough performance and admitted that this back issue has been a nagging one “over this last stretch.” Even with the discomfort, Robinson has been integral for the team, starting the last 11 as star Tyler Herro continues to miss time with right foot medial tendinitis.
“It’s something I’ve been kind of dealing with over this last stretch,” Robinson said. “And I really kind of felt it second half of (Sunday’s) game, and I just wanted to try to give it a chance. Unfortunately, probably more of a detriment out there than anything, which is disappointing. But at a certain point make a judgment call on it, I’m probably not going to help. Just being able to move is a big asset for me offensively, and fly around and play with pace. So it’s discouraging.”
There is no doubt that Robinson has the respect of his head coach and his teammates, especially from Heat star Bam Adebayo who says he has respect for him. He also mentioned himself how it was hard for Robinson to adjust, saying he commends him for attempting to play “when he could barely move,” but still emphasizing the mentality to have is always “next man up.”
“It’s just respect you have for the game and respect you have for Duncan,” Adebayo said, “for him to go out there and even attempt to try to play when he could barely move.”
“You can’t dictate injuries, can’t tell guys to play through,” Adebayo said. “So injuries that are really bothering ’em, me included, for us, it’s just next man up always.”
Heat embracing “next man up” mentality and hoping for healthy roster
Having that “next man up” mentality is essentially part of the Heat's identity at this point as injuries continue to plague the team as they are already missing Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic, and the continued absences of Herro and Kevin Love. After the loss to the 76ers Monday, Adebayo expressed how it is going to be a “dope experience” to have everybody healthy again, prepare for another exciting postseason run, and try to repeat last season by going back to the NBA Finals.
“It’s going to be a dope experience, just for all of us to be healthy again, all of us to be out there together, just trying to figure out how to get wins and make a deep playoff run,” Adebayo said.
However, the loss Monday puts a damper on the excitement as with 14 games left in the regular season, there is little to no room for error. Spoelstra said that he thought the offense was “pretty uneven in the second half,” which has been an ongoing trait all season, but something that can not happen in the home stretch of the year.
“That game was there to take, either way,” Spoelstra said. “I thought we had enough defense and stops going down the stretch to put ourselves in a better position to win this game, but our offense was pretty uneven in the second half.”
Miami is now 37-31 on the season which puts them eighth in the Eastern Conference as they will try to get out of contention for the play-in tournament. Their next game is Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers as that concludes a four-game road trip which leads to a four-game home stand starting Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans.
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