Heat’s Tyler Herro To Return On Tuesday
Heat guard Tyler Herro has been upgraded from questionable to available on the team’s injury report and is on track to make his return on Tuesday vs. Minnesota, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
It will be the first time Herro has played since December 9. He has missed 11 straight games and 13 of the past 14 due to a right big toe contusion. The 25-year-old was also inactive for the first 17 games of the season while he recovered from left ankle surgery — he has played just six times so far this season.
Herro was as effective as ever when he did suit up for that handful of games in November and December. In his six outings, he has averaged 23.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 31.8 minutes per contest, with an excellent .505/.405/.923 shooting line.
Herro was immediately reinserted into the starting lineup following his first lengthy injury absence and will likely reclaim that spot again this time around. However, it’s worth noting that Miami has been having more success lately with its lineup of Bam Adebayo, Kel’el Ware, Norman Powell, Davion Mitchell, and Andrew Wiggins. That group has started each of the past four games (including three wins) and has a +18.0 net rating during that stretch.
While the Heat are getting one of their leading scorers back for Tuesday’s game, the Timberwolves may be missing their top offensive weapon. Anthony Edwards has been added to the injury report due to right foot injury maintenance and is considered questionable to play, per the team (Twitter link).
Heat Notes: Powell, Herro, Jaquez, Rebounding
Heat guard Norman Powell was forced out of Saturday’s game against Minnesota early in the first quarter with tightness in his right hamstring, but he was determined to keep playing, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes in a subscriber-only story. Powell not only returned to score a team-high 21 points, he was active on Sunday as well, pouring in 34 points in a victory over New Orleans.
“I like thugging things out is what I like to say,” Powell explained. “I’m not a person that’s going to sit out or pull myself out of the game with certain injuries. If I’m able to play and I feel that I’m able to go out there and produce and be helpful for my team, I’m going to go do that no matter what the injury is. … I’m just a player that’s going to play through all the bumps and bruises unless I physically can’t go out there and play. I don’t want to take the game for granted. We’ve only got a limited number of games and time in this league, so I want to take advantage of every second of it.”
Powell is proving to be a valuable addition for Miami after being acquired from the Clippers in an offseason trade. L.A. was reluctant to commit to an extension for Powell, who has a $20.5MM expiring contract, but he appears to have a much better shot at a long-term deal with the Heat as he’s leading the team in scoring at 24.4 PPG.
“We’re getting to know him, he trusts his body, he knows his body better than anybody,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He said he was good. He did pass the protocols once he came back to the locker room. … Norm was fine the rest of the way, except for when he was getting clubbed in the head those two possessions in the fourth.”
There’s more from Miami:
- Tyler Herro, who has only been available once in the last 13 games due to a right big toe contusion, was in uniform Sunday night even though there were no plans to use him, Chiang notes in the same piece. Herro will travel with the team on its four-game road trip and could be back on the court Tuesday at Minnesota.
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. sat out Sunday’s game with a sprained right ankle he suffered Saturday night, Chiang adds. It was just the second time this season that Jaquez hasn’t been able to play. “I just tried running, tried running, tried moving around on it, and it wasn’t really feeling right,” Jaquez said in explaining why he couldn’t return to the game on Saturday. “So that’s what caused that decision.”
- Powell says the Heat are “definitely not” where they want to be with a 20-16 record as they approach mid-season, Chiang states in a separate story. The team has been through hot and cold stretches, but has used a strong rebounding performance to win five of its last six games. “I think lately what really has become an identity is Bam (Adebayo), Kel’el (Ware), (Andrew Wiggins) putting pressure on the boards,” Pelle Larsson said. “And if we can do that, we can push the pace and do that, people are going to get really tired of us.”
Heat Notes: Jaquez, Larsson, Adebayo, Herro
Jaime Jaquez Jr. has become one of the NBA’s top reserves in his third season, and his Heat teammates view him as a legitimate contender for Sixth Man of the Year honors, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes in a subscriber-only story. Jaquez, who has started just once in his 33 appearances this season, leads the league with 530 points off the bench and is at or near the top in several other categories.
“He definitely should be in the category for Sixth Man of the Year,” Norman Powell said. “He’s been doing a great job all year in putting his imprint on the game and helping us win close games or helping us open up some games with his play style and the force of his downhill attacks that he comes with every single night.”
Jaquez was a member of the All-Rookie Team in 2024, but he suffered through a disappointing second season and was eventually pulled from the rotation. He acknowledges that it took a lot of “hard work” to bring his game back up to the standards of his first year.
“You realize how much you love basketball, how much fun it is to play every single night,” Jaquez said. “It’s really just having fun out there. It’s not fun not playing. Everybody wants to get on the court, so I’m just appreciating how fun the sport is.”
There’s more from Miami:
- Pelle Larsson is missing his second straight game tonight with a sprained right ankle, Chiang adds. Larsson had been listed as questionable, but he was downgraded to out shortly before game time.
- The Heat have received trade inquiries about Bam Adebayo, but are refusing to consider parting with their star big man, according to NBA analyst Zach Lowe (Twitter video link). “Would they ever include Bam in a package to clear their books and pivot to a younger direction? Other teams I know have for sure asked about Bam and have been told ‘Hell no,’” Lowe said. “As they sniff around at Giannis (Antetokounmpo) and other star players, all of those star players want to play with Bam. I do think the Heat will more than sniff around with Giannis’ situation.”
- With the Heat hoping to have Tyler Herro return soon from a toe contusion, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel (subscription required) talked to Hawks coach Quin Snyder about the difficulty of reintroducing a dominant scorer, since Snyder has been going through the same experience with Trae Young. “A process, that’s what it is,” Snyder said. “And it’s a long runway. Everybody is not going to be acclimated to one another like immediately. … It’s minor adjustments for a lot of guys. And there’s a critical mass of things that you’re going through. You just keep working at it.”
Heat Notes: Larsson, Jovic, Adebayo, Herro, Trade Deadline
Pelle Larsson scored a career-high 21 points Friday night as he returned to the Heat’s starting lineup after missing the previous five games with a left ankle sprain, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes in a subscriber-only story. Larsson’s shooting didn’t suffer from the layoff, as he connected on 9-of-13 attempts from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range.
“You should have seen his rehab sessions, whether it was on the bike initially, it was just all out,” coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. “Almost a level of throwing up. I walked in on one of those sessions, and then also his court sessions. He just pushes the envelope. And so, he had the conditioning. It’s different than game conditioning. But he was able to handle those 29 minutes. And you just see the glue intangibles that he provides.”
Larsson admitted being “pretty gassed” after his first game action in more than two weeks, but the Heat were glad to welcome him back, not just for his scoring but for the other things he does on the court. He brings a lot of intangibles that the team missed while losing eight of its previous nine games.
“We’re so happy to have him back in this lineup,” Jaime Jaquez Jr. said. “He’s the ultimate energy guy, really just gives everybody life and the spark that we desperately needed. So the fact that he was able to come in after so many games missed and just play like that just shows how hard of a worker and how great of a player he is.”
There’s more on the Heat:
- Also returning Friday was Nikola Jovic, who was sidelined for four games due to a right elbow contusion/laceration, Chiang adds. Wearing a protective sleeve on his injured arm, Jovic suffered through a rough shooting night, going 3-of-14 from the field and 1-of-6 from beyond the arc, but he contributed seven rebounds, four assists and a steal and finished as a plus-12 for the game. “I’m someone who when I miss shots, I get pretty mad,” Jovic admitted. “I’m pretty fired up. But during this time that I was injured, I talked a lot to assistant coaches and some of the people from the Heat and they helped me find a way to get back into (the game) quicker. … So, yeah it for sure helps and I think it helped me tonight. Even though I didn’t make a lot of them, I still felt great even shooting them.”
- Bam Adebayo will miss his second straight game tonight with soreness in his lower back. “He clearly is not moving well enough to compete. … He really needed this time,” Spoelstra said, per Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). “He’s definitely making progress. He really needed this time just to get … he was dealing with some deals because of overcompensation. I think he’s feeling a lot better each day.” Tyler Herro, who has played just once in the last nine games due to a right big toe contusion, is “definitely making progress,” Spoelstra adds (Twitter link).
- In a full story for The Sun Sentinel (subscription required), Winderman makes the case for why the Heat should be sellers at the trade deadline and argues that Andrew Wiggins and Norman Powell should be moved to improve the team’s draft assets.
Heat Notes: Slump, Adebayo, Herro, Larsson, Jovic, Ware
While head coach Erik Spoelstra thought the Heat showed some positive signs in consecutive road losses in Boston and New York, he was left searching for answers following the team’s third straight defeat on Tuesday, a lopsided home loss to Toronto, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
“This is not what I would have predicted,” Spoelstra said following Tuesday’s 21-point loss. “I thought we were ready. I thought we had a good session this morning. I thought coming off of our last two games, on the road, even though there were losses, there were way more good things than negative things. In the New York game, we competed with a great spirit. That kind of game, you win a lot of games. But I don’t even know right now.”
As Chiang details, Miami entered December with a 13-7 record and the NBA’s 13th-ranked offense and third-ranked defense. But the team has gone just 2-8 so far this month, the worst mark in the league, with an offensive rating that ranks 27th and a defensive rating that ranks 18th over that stretch to fall back to .500 (15-15).
Third-year wing Jaime Jaquez Jr. said each player on the team needs to take accountability for his performance, starting with himself.
“I think it all starts individually,” Jaquez said. “We all got to look ourselves in the mirror. I know I can do a lot more. There’s a lot more that I know I can bring to this team. And just got to go dig deep and find it, bring it out. That goes for every one of us. It’s a tough stretch right now, and we’re really going to discover who we are in this time. And I’m confident in this team, I’m confident in this locker room. It’s something that we’re just going to have to battle through.”
Here’s more from Miami:
- Bam Adebayo has been in an offensive rut that coincides with the Heat’s slide down the standings, Chiang writes in another story. While the team’s new free-flowing offense earned praise early in the season, it has limited some of the go-to actions the Heat used to run for the three-time All-Star big man. Adebayo is taking fewer shots at the rim and more from long distance, but he has only converted 31.4% of his three-point looks, one of the worst marks in the league among players with four-plus attempts per game, Chiang notes. “It sucks,” Adebayo said of his ongoing shooting slump. “But it’s part of the NBA, it’s a long season. So fighting through whatever I’ve got to fight through, figure out how I can impact winning and do that instead of focusing on shots not falling. Just play basketball and shots will eventually start falling.”
- Adebayo is dealing with lower back soreness and is questionable for Friday’s matchup at Atlanta, as Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel relays. Guard Tyler Herro will miss his sixth straight game due to a right big toe contusion, but Pelle Larsson (left ankle sprain) and Nikola Jovic (right elbow contusion/laceration) are probable to suit up against the Hawks, Winderman adds. Larsson has been out for the past five games, while Jovic has been sidelined for the past four.
- Knicks head coach Mike Brown was effusive in his praise of Kel’el Ware after Sunday’s loss in New York, according to Chiang. The second-year Heat center had one of the best games of his career, finishing with 28 points (on 11-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-7 from long distance) and 19 rebounds in 35 minutes. “I’ll tell you, Kel’el Ware, he was a beast tonight on the glass,” Brown said at the start of his post-game press conference on Sunday. “This is one of the very few times we got our behinds kicked on the glass, and a lot of it is attributed to him and the way he rebounded on both ends of the floor, and then he shot the mess out of the basketball. We told our guys he’s been shooting it really well. We just didn’t get to his body. It’s a little tough because he’s seven feet. So, with a guy like that, you almost got to close all the way to his chest just to try to hopefully make him put it on the floor.”
Heat Notes: Jakucionis, Guard Depth, Adebayo, Ware, Rozier
Friday’s loss at Boston was the sixth in the last seven games for the Heat, but they got an encouraging performance from rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscription required). Pressed into duty because of the team’s lengthy injured list, the 20th pick in this year’s draft got his first career start and responded with 17 points in nearly 36 minutes.
“He gives us the energy, the pace. He’s fearless in terms of his play-making, aggressiveness, getting into the paint,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He has really improved his three-point shooting. So that was definitely a bright spot. With Davion (Mitchell) being out, Kas got an opportunity and he really played well.”
Jakucionis has dealt with a bumpy start to his NBA career, caused in part by a sprained left wrist that sidelined him for part of training camp and the preseason, along with a strained right groin that forced him to miss the first seven regular season games. He has been playing mainly in the G League, where he’s averaging 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.5 steals per game with Sioux Falls.
“You never know when the chance is coming, when D-Mitch was out,” Jakucionis said. “I just have to be ready every time they need me, and I’m trying to stay ready every time they need me.”
There’s more on the Heat:
- Jakucionis’ potential emergence adds to an extremely crowded backcourt in Miami, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel states in a mailbag column (subscription required). Injuries have been a factor so far, but Jakucionis could eventually be competing for playing time with Mitchell, Norman Powell, Tyler Herro and Dru Smith. Winderman notes that Pelle Larsson and Jaime Jaquez Jr. are also used in guard roles, so there could be difficult decisions about playing time if everyone gets healthy.
- Spoelstra experimented with small-ball lineups earlier in the season, but injuries have forced him to rely more on the double-big combination of Bam Adebayo and second-year center Kel’el Ware, Winderman observes in a separate story. The Heat tend to use Ware in drop coverage to protect the rim, while switching on defense more often when he’s not in the game. “I mean, it keeps teams off balance,” Adebayo said. “We’ve got to look at it in a positive way. We keep teams off balance.”
- In another piece, Winderman calls for commissioner Adam Silver to make a decision on what the Heat can do with Terry Rozier‘s contract before the January 7 salary guarantee date and the February 5 trade deadline get any closer.
Injury Notes: Herro, Jovic, Trae, Magic, Wolves, Dosunmu
Tyler Herro (right big toe contusion) is traveling with the Heat on their three-game road trip that begins in Brooklyn on Thursday and hopes to return to action at some point on that trip, but admitted there’s “a lot of swelling” in his toe, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
Herro, who has missed three of the past four games due to the toe injury, played last Tuesday after taking a Toradol shot, then practiced during the team’s five-day break before being ruled out of Monday’s contest.
“I probably shouldn’t have practiced,” Herro said today. “That kind of like sparked things back up. So I’m just trying to control the swelling and the inflammation, and then from there I can kind of decide what I want to do from there.”
Forward Nikola Jovic, who was diagnosed with a right elbow contusion/laceration after taking a hard fall on Monday, told reporters on Wednesday that he considers himself week-to-week. However, he’s optimistic his absence won’t be a lengthy one and said he was relieved that his injury wasn’t worse.
“I was scared I broke my arm, because I didn’t feel anything and I just saw a lot of blood,” Jovic said. “And they were really scared, too, because I had a pretty deep and a big cut, too. I have stitches now. But it didn’t look good as soon as I went back, because I started feeling my arm. It feels good now. I can’t do a lot of stuff. I can’t really hold stuff right now. But it’s not broken, so I guess that’s the most important thing and I think I’ll be back really soon.”
We have more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Hawks guard Trae Young, who has been out since October 29 due to a sprained MCL, appears to be nearing his return. Young was assigned to the G League on Tuesday to practice with the College Park Skyhawks, then recalled on Wednesday for a practice with the NBA squad, according to the team (Twitter links).
- Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain) and Moritz Wagner (ACL recovery) aren’t traveling with the Magic on their four-game Western Conference trip that begins Thursday in Denver, reports Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter links). While the Wagner brothers remain in Orlando to focus on their rehab work, Jalen Suggs (left hip contusion) will join the team on its trip, though head coach Jamahl Mosley said the guard “wasn’t able to go and do much in practice” on Wednesday.
- After missing the Timberwolves‘ past two games, star guard Anthony Edwards (right foot injury maintenance) is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s matchup with Memphis (Twitter link). Veteran point guard Mike Conley, meanwhile, has been ruled out for a third straight game due to right Achilles tendinopathy.
- Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game vs. Cleveland and hopes to be active following a two-game layoff, but both of his thumbs are sprained and taped up, and he has a bone bruise in his right thumb. Those injuries would eventually heal with rest, but Dosunmu intends to play through them, referring to it as a “pain tolerance thing” (Twitter links via K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network and Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic).
Heat Notes: Losing Streak, Threes, Herro, Wiggins, Jovic
The Heat were grateful to have an extended break after losing their fourth straight game on Tuesday, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Miami has spent the past three days practicing after taking a couple of rest days in the middle of the week.
“Look, we don’t like losing,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We have a very competitive group in the locker room. We’re just focused on getting better, not getting caught up in all the panic and narratives that potentially can be out there, just have to rally around each other.
“Look, it’s a competitive league. There’s so much parity right now. You have to play well and then you have to find different ways to win games. There’s going to be a lot of teams that are going through what we’re going through right now. You can’t panic for all the noise. You just have to focus on, ‘How do we get better?’”
As Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald notes, the Heat had gotten pretty lucky during their 14-7 start to the season, as opponents were converting three-pointers at a much worse rate than expected, while the Heat were one of the top outside shooting teams in the league. Both of those trends have reversed during their recent stretch of poor play.
“They’re doing a great job of scouting how we play our offense,” guard Norman Powell said. “They’re up higher. They’re two, three steps up above the three. They’re denying passing lanes. They’re trying to make us play one in the half court and then two inside the line.
“So we’ve just got to be better collectively, really working the offense like we were at the beginning of the season. We’re all on everybody’s scouting report in how we want to play, the pace, and trying to slow us down. So individually, we can all be better in how we navigate the offense, attack, kickouts, not taking so many tough two-pointers once we get into the paint.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Spoelstra strongly pushed back on the notion that having Tyler Herro back has disrupted the team’s offensive rhythm, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “It’s just a total overreaction that’s misguided. We need Tyler,” Spoelstra said Friday. “And it will be a little bit of a process working him back into the mix. But to get where we need to go, we need Tyler’s skill and talent. We need our guys healthy, and that’s what we’re working on right now. We can be very dangerous when we get guys on the same page, committing to our identity, and Tyler’s a big part of that.” The Heat are just 3-3 when Herro plays, but they’ve been better when he’s on the court than when he’s off, Chiang observes, and the 25-year-old guard is once again putting up big offensive numbers.
- While he admits there are pros and cons to the role, veteran wing Andrew Wiggins has grown accustomed to spending most of his time as a small-ball power forward, per Winderman. “It hasn’t been weighing on me at all. I’ve been feeling pretty comfortable,” he said. “It was more so newer at the beginning of the year. But, like I said, I feel comfortable now and I feel like I’m doing a solid job being the power forward. I mean, it has its advantages and disadvantages.”
- Spoelstra says fourth-year forward Nikola Jovic will have an opportunity to play rotation minutes again at some point, Winderman adds, though when exactly that will take place is still up in the air. “He just has to stay with it,” Spoelstra said. “And each day is an opportunity for him to get better and to make an impression. That’s good that he has practice days, to show us. But he’s been working behind the scenes and he’ll get his opportunity again.”
Southeast Notes: Risacher, Whitmore, Herro, Knueppel, Salaun
After a promising first NBA season in which he placed second in Rookie of the Year voting, Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher has seen his numbers drop off a little this fall. Last year’s No. 1 overall pick is averaging 11.1 points and 2.8 rebounds per game with a .453/.296/.677 shooting line through 22 outings after putting up 12.6 PPG and 3.6 RPG on .458/.355/.711 shooting as a rookie.
As Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes (subscription required), Risacher, who has battled through a couple injuries during the first couple months of the season, believes he’s developing positive habits despite the statistical dip, and his coaches and teammates are optimistic that better results are coming.
“He’s working really hard and for guys like him, that’s gonna turn around sooner or later,” Hawks guard/forward Vit Krejci said. “I think about the law of percentages, you know, I think we talked about it last year where the first part I was shooting 19% and then it turned around. And he’s good. I’m sure, if you’re consistent with your work, you’re obviously going to go through ups and downs, but I think he’s been handling very well. Just keep working and keep your confidence up.”
We have more from across the Southeast:
- After suggesting over the weekend that Cam Whitmore didn’t play on Saturday because he failed to live up to “certain standards” the Wizards expect of him, head coach Brian Keefe has since walked back that message, according to Quinn Allen of RG.org. A team spokesperson told Allen that Whitmore’s DNP-CD on Saturday wasn’t disciplinary, while Keefe said during a Wednesday radio appearance that Whitmore “didn’t do anything wrong” and that the team simply wanted to “give some other guys a chance” in the rotation.
- The Heat have lost four straight games and five of their last six, but reintegrating Tyler Herro following his left ankle injury hasn’t been the primary issue during that stretch, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. As Chiang notes, Herro’s role has been under a microscope since Miami had so much success early in the season with a new-look, uptempo offense that has slowed down a little since Herro’s return. However, the team has a +3.6 net rating during his time on the court so far, Chiang writes, including a +13.0 mark when he and Norman Powell play together.
- Hornets wing Kon Knueppel tops a list from Zach Harper of The Athletic of this season’s top 10 rookies so far, maintaining an edge over his former Duke teammate Cooper Flagg. As Harper writes, besides leading all rookies in scoring, Knueppel has been the top shooter in the class, has produced consistently, and has been a solid rebounder and play-maker too. Hornets big man Ryan Kalkbrenner also makes Harper’s list, coming in at No. 8.
- Knueppel has outperformed the Hornets‘ 2024 lottery pick, Tidjane Salaun, so far this season, but Salaun may be turning a corner after spending nearly the entire month of November in the G League with the Greensboro Swarm, writes Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. The second-year forward scored a career-high 21 points in 22 minutes last Friday in Toronto. “I have loved the mindset that Tidjane has come back with from his Greensboro stint,” head coach Charles Lee said. “I have seen him embrace his role even more than he did earlier in the year, which I think is great. I think he’s gotten a little bit more confidence in what that role looks like. I think he’s gotten a little bit more comfortable after getting extended minutes.”
Heat Notes: Adebayo, Big Lineup, Fontecchio, Herro
The Heat–Magic matchup in the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup will tip off shortly. Bam Adebayo believes Miami can not only make noise during the in-season tournament but also the postseason.
“People are going to call us crazy, but I think we’re a contender,” Adebayo told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “We’re going to be called delusional. But how I look at delusion [is] if you ask how many people could be NBA players, what is the percentage of that? So, you’ve got to have a little bit of delusion when it comes to speaking stuff into existence. Like I always say, ‘Speak stuff into existence that matters.’ Manifest things that matter. Being able to just dream about that, write it down and keep looking at that. That goes a long way. And some of that is real. So, I think we’re contenders when we’re fully healthy.”
Following last season’s trade sending Jimmy Butler to Golden State, Adebayo has embraced the role of team leader and face of the franchise.
“This season, for sure, it’s like I’m the one in the driver’s seat,” Adebayo said. “That’s a big responsibility. It’s a big ask. But if they didn’t believe in me, they wouldn’t put me in the seat. That’s how I look at it. If I haven’t done things in the past where they were comfortable with saying, ‘He can be our guide,’ and I wouldn’t be in this seat.”
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Coach Erik Spoelstra is banking on the two-big lineup of Adebayo and Kel’el Ware to show improvement. “I just want to see that group, when we play bigger, just for it to be a plus,” Spoelstra said, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “So we have some work to do there. It should be a very good defensive group, but that’s a group that hasn’t been able to defend so far, and we’ve got to continue to work at that.” The Heat has been outscored by 12.5 points per 100 possessions in the 123 minutes Adebayo and Ware have played together this season.
- Simone Fontecchio snapped a three-point shooting slump by hitting four outside shots against the Kings on Saturday. Spoelstra didn’t consider taking the Italian forward out of the rotation despite his shooting woes. “For us we know the value that he brings,” Spoelstra said, per Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. “One way or another, he gives you the gravity. But all the other details, we’ve been really encouraged by the team defense that he provides. He’s very detailed. He’s intentional. He wants to do the right thing defensively. He also has a toughness about him. He handles his own under the basket, rebounding against bigger players. He sticks his nose in there.”
- After a two-game absence with a toe contusion, Tyler Herro was cleared to return for tonight’s game. Herro is averaging 23.8 points in the five games he’s played. He’s in the starting lineup tonight, Chiang tweets.