The Miami Heat have a huge test on their hands Monday against the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference in the Minnesota Timberwolves, but the team will have some major help. Stars Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, who both have missed a significant amount of time, will be available and play for the Heat.
Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke to the media before the game and answered what the workload will be and his general excitement to having the two players back. He said that the game will decide the amount of minutes for the stars and he's “excited to have them back.”
“The game will decide. the game they'll let us know but we're excited to have them back and you know we'll start moving forward with this group but everything is unpredictable in this league,” Spoelstra said. “You know, we didn't anticipate we would have injuries. You just have to deal with what is thrown at you. But today was was a very uplifting day having them being a shoot-around.”
Spoelstra talks Herro coming back plus what Adebayo brings to the table
Herro especially coming back for the Heat is huge as they've missed the scoring and shot-creating ability that he has to offer. Before he suffered a Grade 2 right ankle sprain in early November, he was the team's leading scorer at around 23 points per game. Spoelstra said before Monday's game that having him on the floor helps the offense in a myriad of ways.
“We're excited to have his skill set. You know, he does so many things to help your offense. His game has really grown and we just want to have all of our weapons available,” Spoelstra said. “We're fifth in the East you know right now. We like how we've been playing, but ultimately not where we want to be so we want to have our guys and put some things together hopefully put together some some good weeks and months and and prepare.”
Getting back Adebayo is also a huge gain for the Heat as he's been dealing with a hip injury that's been nagging him since the start of the season. As of recent though, the Miami big-man has missed the last seven games as he got banged in the same area of the hip on Nov. 30 against the Indiana Pacers.
Adebayo brings elite defense when guarding every position and was showing huge strides on offense. He was arguably the Heat's best player as he was averaging career-bests with around 23 points and 10 rebounds per game. On the court against Minnesota Monday, he'll have a tough test against the likes of Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Spoelstra on facing the No. 1 seeded Timberwolves
Spoelstra agreed that the Timberwolves are No. 1 in the Western Conference for a reason as their record is at 19-5. He said to ClutchPoints that they are the best in a ton of categories including having stars like Anthony Edwards.
“They're formidable, that's for sure. They have the best point differential in the league. They have the best defense. Their defense, I believe is the best defense so far, in a long time in several years in what they've been able to do,” Spoelstra said. “They really make it tough on you. You have to work your offense to be able to get the shots you want, not the ones that they want you to take. And then they have two guys that are very clear on the roles and they can they can put on a lot of points out there in a hurry.”
Jimmy Butler, Kevin Love talks about teammates coming back
Besides getting Herro and Adebayo back, the Heat are coming off of a much-needed win agains the Chicago Bulls. The play of the game was when star Jimmy Butler hit the game-winner when time expired. He was asked afterwards about the thought of getting his two teammates soon and was happy, but didn't want to “jinx it.”
“I don’t want to jinx anything,” Butler said. “I just want guys to get back and we all hoop together. That’s all I’m going to say because I don’t want to jinx anything.”
Butler would finish with a game-high 28 points, but Kevin Love also was huge in the win with 22 points and some key plays down the stretch to set up the game-winner. He said after the game to the media that the returns of Herro and Adebayo will show off the impressive depth of Miami.
“It’s really going to show how deep this team is. I think in ways, we’re not going to surprise ourselves, but we’re going to surprise people in that we have a very deep bench. Guys that can fill a lot of spots, guys that can play different positions night in and night out,” Love said. “But we’re missing a lot of fire power, as well, and we’re missing guys on both sides of the ball. Getting Tyler and Bam back is going to be huge for us and it just gives us that much more depth, especially with guys that mean so much to this team and are incredibly high-level players and mean so much to the organization.”
Miami is 15-11 coming into the huge game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The record puts the Heat fifth in the Eastern Conference.
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