Before the Miami Heat take on the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday night in the play-in tournament, they have received some crucial updates to the injuries of key players like Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson, and Kevin Love . The Heat finished at the eighth seed and have the opportunity to face the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs if they beat Philadelphia.
Starting with Terry Rozier, the star guard has been ruled “out” with a neck injury specifically labeled as “neck; spasm” according to the team’s X (formerly known as Twitter) account. Including the regular season, Wednesday against the 76ers will be his fifth straight missed game where the last time he played was on April 7 against the Indiana Pacers.
Rozier didn’t practice Tuesday which was the first sign that pointed to his likely absence, but he also didn’t travel with the team to Philadelphia. The hope remains that he will be ready for the game after depending on the result where Miami could play Friday if they lose to the 76ers where they would host the winner of the No. 9 seed Chicago Bulls and No. 10 seed Atlanta Hawks matchup.
Great news on Robinson, plus Erik Spoelstra on the injuries to Miami
While the news on Rozier is negative, the Heat do get some positive injury news where Robinson has a massive upgrade in his status to “probable” for the play-in game Wednesday. Like Rozier, Robinson last played on April 7 and had missed the last four games of the season.
Robinson had been still dealing with a back injury labeled as “left facet syndrome” where before the four-game stint where he was out, he missed time in March with the same injury. He is a dynamic three-point shooter for the Heat, but has improved in a bevy of other areas like passing, scoring in the paint, etc.
The 29-year old guard was a limited participant in practice whereas compared to the former Charlotte Hornet, pointed in a direction where he could possibly play against the 76ers. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke about the injuries after Tuesday’s practice and mentioned that while he didn’t know of Rozier and Robinson’s status at the time, “everybody else is ready to go.”
“Yeah, I don’t have an update on Terry or Duncan. So we’ll have a better idea of tomorrow, but everybody else is ready to go,” Spoelstra said. “We have a lot of corporate knowledge of how we want to play, and more importantly, the mentality of going into a game like this. We have to have clear minds. You have to be fierce with a competitive spirit. You have to be connected, all of these things we need for the playoffs.”
A positive update on Kevin Love
There was one name left off by Spoelstra which ended up being positive for the Heat as there was concerns about the health of star Kevin Love after he left the first quarter of the regular season finale against the Toronto Raptors. He wouldn’t return to the game as he suffered from an “left upper arm contusion,” but in the present time, he has a different injury being a “left ankle sprain.”
He was a limited participant in practice and is listed as “available” for the play-in game facing Philadelphia which is huge for Miami. When healthy, Love is the primary backup to center Bam Adebayo as he provides spacing, veteran leadership, and still a presence in cleaning the glass.
The Heat look to beat the 76ers Wednesday night in hopes of recreating their playoff magic from last season where they finished in the NBA Finals. If Miami loses, they host the winner of the 9-10 seeded matchup between the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks Friday where they would face the Boston Celtics.
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