As the Miami Heat beat the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, the rest of the current West Coast road trip has been disappointing to say the least, as besides the 1-2 record so far in that span, the team has also dealt with injuries. Besides Heat star Tyler Herro missing the whole road trip with a rib injury, second-year center Kel'el Ware has been nursing a hamstring injury that has gotten to the point where he's been sent home to treat it.
Ware only played in the first game of the road trip, which was last Monday's loss to the Golden State Warriors, but would go on to miss the next two games, including Thursday's defeat against the Portland Trail Blazers, 127-110. Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra would speak on the team's decision to send Ware back to Miami to treat the hamstring, also saying how they're “optimistic,” and how they don't expect it to be a “long-term” issue.
“I don’t think it’ll be a long-term thing, but I don’t have a specific timeline on it,” Spoelstra said, according to The Miami Herald. “We’ll just wait until we get back to Miami. He and [Heat senior director of rehabilitation] Jeff Ruiz have already started the process. He had a good day today. They’ll work the next few days, and we expect there to be some progress.”
Heat's Nikola Jovic playing the five in Kel'el Ware's absence
Though Heat captain Bam Adebayo has seemingly gotten out of his offensive slump, the team's depth at center is now a concern with Ware's injury. Though Miami has two-way player and center Vladislav Goldin waiting in the wings, Spoelstra has opted to play more small, putting Nikola Jovic at that spot, leading to middling results, including an off outing against the Trail Blazers.
Jovic would play 17 minutes, recording five points on two of eight shooting from the field, one of seven from deep, to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Spoelstra spoke about the benefit of Jovic playing the five and needing more “grit” from him to improve.
“When he plays at the five, it opens things up for us,” Spoelstra said. “All of his shots were basically wide open. We want him to play with assertiveness, with confidence. He’s so important to what we do. And this is part of being a professional basketball player and a team, where we want to be better than where we are.”
At any rate, Miami is 23-22, putting them eighth in the Eastern Conference, as the team next takes on the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.
