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Heat without Jimmy Butler, Kevin Love, Caleb Martin vs. Timberwolves

ira winderman, south florida sun-sentinel
·5 min read

The second night of the Miami Heat’s first back-to-back set of the season left Erik Spoelstra’s team with a depleted roster Saturday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.

Already without Josh Richardson and Haywood Highsmith, with both remaining behind in Miami for the three-game trip — with Richardson dealing with a sprained left foot and Highsmith a sprained left knee — the Heat on Saturday also listed Jimmy Butler, Kevin Love and Caleb Martin as being out.

Butler, who was limited in the Heat’s back-to-back sets last season by a knee issue, was held out against the Timberwolves for rest. Love was held out with a bruised left shoulder, and Martin was out for the second consecutive night with left-knee tendinosis.

Duncan Robinson (foot) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (groin) both were on the Heat injury report but were available.

While the NBA is cracking down on load management, including holding leading players out for both ends of back-to-back sets, Butler played 33:41 in Friday night’s 119-111 loss to the Boston Celtics at TD Garden and therefore was allotted the allowance for such rest, even with it being just the Heat’s third game of the season.

While Butler, 34, and Love, 35, were given Saturday off, point guard Kyle Lowry, the oldest player on the Heat roster at 37, was not on Saturday’s injury report.

Of the Heat’s injury report, prime concern at the moment is on Martin.

The question at the start of training camp was whether Martin would open the season as a starter. Less than a week into the season, the question for the Heat has become when Martin can get back to being himself.

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Limited by knee pain since the offseason, Martin was a late scratch before Friday night’s loss in Boston at the start of a three-game trip that concludes Monday against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Martin, a starter for much of last season and then briefly in last season’s playoffs, struggled through 19:30 in Wednesday’s season-opening victory over the visiting Detroit Pistons, shooting 1 of 7 from the field.

Now there is uncertainty about what comes next, including waiting until just before Friday’s game for the decision to sit out.

“Just feeling it out, just going through it,” Martin said of his process. “Ultimately, just trying to be cautious of how it’s feeling and making sure it’s not being prolonged and lingering. So just trying to be smart about it this time.

“We got a good plan on how it’s progressing and we just didn’t think it was the right time to start back full-fledged. I’ll just try to figure it out day by day.”

The opener let Martin know things weren’t right.

“Taking it day by day,” he said. “Just being smart about it. Trying to be smart and make sure it doesn’t linger and prolong. Just get with the medical staff and the coaches and make sure we’re all on the same page.

“But my agenda is to try to play every game, but also be smart at the same time.”

Spoelstra said backing off seemed prudent.

“We want to make sure that it’s not nagging,” Spoelstra said. “And that’s where he is right now. He’s not moving quite as well as he should be at the beginning of the season. He can will his way through all this stuff. He’s such a competitor.

“But when you have this many games ahead, I get it. At some point you’re not going to feel like you’re 100 percent. But if it’s affecting your mobility right now, we have to kind of take control of that situation and make sure he’s feeling better, moving better. And we’ll get him there, because he’s definitely made progress.”

Martin said the approach will be day to day.

“If I wake up feeling better and I get treatment and I’m feeling good and I’m ready to go, I’m going to play,” he said. “When I’m ready to play, I’m going to play. I’m always going to try to play. That’s always the goal every game day is to play.”

He said sitting out against the Celtics was particularly stressful.

“You just love to compete against those types of guys and it’s high level basketball,” he said. “I hate missing that type of game. But it’s big picture and it’s a long season. We’re trying to make sure I can play and stay in as long as possible.”

Now the question is weighing pain and progress.

“It’s just more feeling it out and what can be tolerated,” he said. “It’s nothing crazy. But it’s something that obviously would limit me and what I’m capable of doing. I don’t want it to be one of those things where it leads to one thing and the next thing you know something else is hurting because I’m compensating. So just trying to be smart about it and making sure I’m at a place to where if I play, I don’t have to worry about multiple other things?

“It’s pain tolerance and then just being smart about it. We’re on the same page with the medical staff. We understand that it’s early. I played the first game and obviously I know I didn’t play up to par that game, but I kind of wanted to get my feet wet. That was kind of the main indicator.”