As the Miami Heat lost to the New Orleans Pelicans Friday night, it was off the back of a poor shooting performance, especially from three-point range. On the laundry list of injuries, one key player that the Heat are very much so missing is Duncan Robinson who elevates the team with his exceptional skill from deep, but is out with a back injury as he provides an update on the issue.
Robinson has missed the last two games with the aforementioned back injury that was later specified as “left facet syndrome.” He left in the third quarter of the Heat's loss to the Philadelphian 76ers on March 18 due to back discomfort and went back home to see a back specialist as he said Friday evening that he is “improving a lot” and feels much better than he did last Monday according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
“Definitely [getting] better, significantly better than Monday,” Robinson said of how he feels with the injury. “It’s improving a lot.”
Before the 76ers game, Robinson and Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra revealed that the star had trouble even moving his body, but wanted to play that night to be with his teammates. The 29-year old player recently made history on March 17 against the Detroit Pistons where on top of scoring 30 points, he became the fastest player in NBA history to reach 1000 made three-point shots in 343 games.
Robinson reveals how he feels with the injury
Fortunately for the Heat, Robinson bluntly said that the injury is “not too serious” as he is averaging 13.5 points, three assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 40.5 percent from three-point range. While Robinson wants to be out there for the team's last 13 games of the regular season, he said “you want to be smart about it” in terms of not just rushing through the injury.
“Thankful it’s not too serious,” Robinson said. “Big thing is making sure [to] calm it down. It’s flared up right now. I’m trying to play as soon as I possibly can. Itching to be back out there. As soon as get the clear and OK, I’ll be back out there. Taking a couple days helps a lot. The recovery and treatment has helped as well as other things.
“You want to be smart about it,” Robinson continued. “I understand down the stretch there is going to be some managing of it from a pain perspective, which I’m ready to embrace, but you don’t want to rush back to where it just flares up to where it starts [process] from day one.”
Spoelstra had brief update on Robinson
Before Friday's game against New Orleans, Spoelstra provided a brief update on Robinson saying that the Heat will be monitoring how his body responds to various treatment being received. However, the dynamic three-point shooter will be treated as “day-to-day” moving forward.
“Always optimistic,” Spoelstra said. “He'll be day to day and we'll see how his body responds after all the treatment today and tomorrow we'll see what's going on.”
Erik Spoelstra gives an update on Duncan Robinson.
“Always optimistic, he’ll be day-to-day, we’ll see how his body responds to all the treatment today…” #HEATCulture pic.twitter.com/Ga3p4u0BrZ
— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) March 22, 2024
Robinson missed based on Heat's loss to Pelicans Friday
Robinson was sorely missed Friday night as the Heat were poor in their three-point shooting as they were 27.7 percent from deep, missing 34 attempts which is the most this season and the fifth-most in the franchise's history. Even star Bam Adebayo said after the game that they are missing the likes of Robinson and other injured players who can space the floor like Tyler Herro and Kevin Love.
“A lot,” Adebayo answered with how much the Heat miss their injured players. “Just because they play heavy minutes for us, you can't replace a guy like Duncan [Robinson]who shoots it from anywhere, a guy like Tyler [Herro] who can create his own shot, and obviously the leadership of K-Love [Kevin Love].”
Next chance to play for Robinson in the Heat's home stand?
Robinson's next chance to play will be Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers inside the Kaseya Center but said that he doesn't “know when for sure that will be” in terms of his return. If anything, the team is currently in the midst of a four-game home stand, but time is running out on the regular season.
“I wouldn’t count out anything,” Robinson said via The Miami Herald. “I want to play as soon as I possibly can, I don’t know when for sure that will be.”
The Heat are 38-32 on the season which puts them seventh in the tightly packed Eastern Conference with 13 games left in the regular season. In the home stand as mentioned before, they will face the Cavs Sunday, the Golden State Warriors Tuesday, and then the Portland Trail Blazers Friday.
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