When injuries strike the Miami Heat, coach Erik Spoelstra often offers the same simple message: “We have enough.” This belief will face a serious test in the NBA’s do-or-die games of the play-in tournament on Friday night.
All four teams – Miami and Chicago in the East, New Orleans and Sacramento in the West – have significant injury concerns heading into their games to determine the No. 8 seeds in the playoffs.
Miami and New Orleans have home-court advantage on Friday; the winners will face the top-seeded teams – Boston and Oklahoma City, respectively, in Round 1 starting Sunday.
The Heat will miss Jimmy Butler (sprained right MCL) and Terry Rozier (neck) against the Bulls. Miami hopes Duncan Robinson, who’s dealt with a back injury lately, can play. The Bulls lost guard Alex Caruso to a sprained ankle in their win over Atlanta on Wednesday.
“We’re going to take the hard route,” Spoelstra said. “We’ll rest up, treat up, come together as a team, and prepare for Friday. We’ll embrace these competitive games in front of our home crowd and give it our all on Friday night.”
The Pelicans will be without Zion Williamson, who injured his left hamstring after scoring 40 points against the Lakers on Tuesday. He’ll be out for at least two weeks. Coach Willie Green sees this adversity as an opportunity for the team to rise.
The Kings have dealt with injuries to Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk. Despite this, they defeated Golden State to reach the West play-in finale.
“These one-game series in the playoffs suit us,” said Kings coach Mike Brown. “It fits our style.”
