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At a time the Miami Heat appeared to be trending toward better health, the team announced Tuesday morning that center Bam Adebayo and guard Tyler Herro would be sidelined for Tuesday night’s game against the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder.
That announcement came in the wake of the Heat on Monday announcing that guard Kyle Lowry and forward Caleb Martin were out for the game.
That left the Heat with only Jimmy Butler available from the team’s preferred starting lineup, a group that had started only 14 of the team’s 41 games going into Tuesday night.
It also meant the Heat having to unveil an 18th starting lineup, having used 13 of the previously 17 for two or fewer games, amid the mix-and-match hand dealt coach Erik Spoelstra.
“This really kind of seems like our norm,” Spoelstra said 90 minutes before Tuesday night’s tip. “I don’t say that in jest, but we’ve had guys in and out of the lineup and we’ve been able to win games with different guys available.”
Adebayo injured his right wrist during Sunday’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets, having been listed as questionable for that game due to a thigh injury, which also has required ongoing treatment.
Adebayo previously had missed four games this season: two due to a knee bruise, one with an ankle sprain and one for illness, with the Heat 2-2 in those games.
“A little bit more relief,” Spoelstra said of Adebayo’s wrist injury not being more serious. “He couldn’t catch or shoot comfortably.
Herro, who slipped on a wet spot on the court during the final play of that one-point loss to the Nets, is listed out with a sore left Achilles.
“Thankfully, it was just kind of jammed and tweaked his ankle,” Spoelstra said. “He’s made progress in the last 24 hours.”
Herro missed eight games in November with a sprained left ankle, the Heat 3-5 in those games. His only other previous absence was when he sat last Friday’s road victory over the Phoenix Suns due to back spasms.
Lowry is out due to discomfort in his left knee. Lowry had missed five previous games: Two for rest, two for a sore left knee and one for personal reasons, with the Heat 4-1 in those games.
“His knee was a little bit sore at the end of the road trip and he’ll be day to day from here, and we’ll see,” Spoelstra said.
Martin has missed four of the past six games with a strained left quadriceps.
Martin had missed seven games prior to Tuesday: one for a NBA fighting suspension, two for a sprained left ankle and the four for the quadriceps strain, with the Heat 3-4 in his absence.
The latest round of absences come with the Heat expected to be at least the next three weeks without guard Duncan Robinson (finger surgery), center Omer Yurtseven (ankle surgery) and rookie forward Nikola Jovic (back spasms).
Robinson underwent his surgery last week in Los Angeles, back with the team with his hand in a cast.
Yurtseven, who had November surgery, no longer is requiring a scooter for support, instead walking with a brace on his left.
Jovic has a stress reaction in his lower back.
“I think we’ve responded well to some of the adversity that we have had,” Spoelstra said.
The Heat have been operating shorthanded all season, carrying only 14 players on their standard roster instead of the maximum 15 in order to remain below the punitive NBA luxury tax.
In addition to those sidelined, several other Heat players have been nursing injuries, with 42-year-old captain Udonis Haslem has been listed as questionable with tendinosis in his right Achilles, center Dewayne Dedmon having dealt with ongoing plantar fasciitis in his left foot and guard Gabe Vincent working his way back from a recent extended absence due to an effusion in his left knee.
The only players on the Heat roster not on the injury report at some point for Tuesday night were Butler, guard Max Strus, forward Haywood Highsmith, guard Victor Oladipo and two-way players Orlando Robinson and Jamal Cain.
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