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Injuries, desperation open door for Hampton’s first meaningful Heat minutes; Highsmith, Richardson returning

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

MIAMI — Erik Spoelstra was searching; RJ Hampton was attempting to find what he had lost.

So even in defeat Thursday night to the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat may have stumbled on another option amid their lack of a true option at point guard beyond Kyle Lowry.

Summoned with the Heat down 25 in the first quarter of what turned Thursday night’s 124-116 loss at Kaseya Center, Hampton received his first meaningful minutes as a member of the Heat. Added in the offseason on a two-way contract, the 2020 first-round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks played 9:27 in the loss, with his lone previous action 2:02 of mop-up duty in the Oct. 28 road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“It’s been a long time since I played. This is probably the longest stretch of my life that I went without playing a game of basketball,” said Hampton, who had been sidelined in the interim by a sprained right knee. “So just to be back out there, it felt good.”

Hampton said he had been out of action for so long that he initially treated the ball like a grenade.

“I think when I first caught the ball, I first swung it to T.B. at the top, because I ain’t even touched the basketball in a minute,” he said of his rushed pass to surprised backup center Thomas Bryant. “But then, on the next play down, Jimmy (Butler) had thrown me a good pass and I’m like, ‘If I don’t shoot it, he might not give it back to me.’ So I had to shoot it.”

While Hampton finished with a nondescript stat line of three points and two assists, he was part of a Heat reserve unit that helped trim that 25-point deficit within four at halftime.

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“Man, it’s been crazy,” Hampton, 22, said. “I’ve just been dreaming about playing basketball again, sitting on the bench, and whether I was in street clothes or whether I was in game clothes, just wanting to be back out there. And I think it’s one of the most important things in my life. So being back out there was great for me, it brought a lot of joy to me and my family, so I loved it.”

The minutes also resonated with Spoelstra.

“I think it was important for him to get his feet wet,” Spoelstra said, “just to understand all the nuances and how important it is, every detail that we’re hammering, that that just makes the next practice session more relevant. And he’ll understand.”

Highsmith, Richardson back

While guard Tyler Herro (ankle) and center Bam Adebayo (hip) remain out for the Heat, forward Haywood Highsmith no longer is on the team’s injury report, after missing the past five games with a lower-back contusion. Caleb Martin has been starting in place of Highsmith.

In addition, after missing the past two games, guard Josh Richardson is listed as available for Saturday against the Bulls, having moved past his back spasms.

Also, the Heat are listing forward Nikola Jovic as questionable, to see if he can make it back from his Friday G League game in Chicago.

Guard Dru Smith remains sidelined with his season-ending knee injury.

And again

The Heat and the Bulls close out their four-game season series with a Saturday rematch at Kaseya Center, having played the first two games of the season series consecutively at the United Center last month.

“We get almost 48 hours of getting our legs back underneath us,” said center Kevin Love, with Thursday’s game coming a night after defeating the visiting Charlotte Hornets. “Guys are playing heavy minutes. Guys are stepping up in their minutes. But still, I’ll take us on Saturday against anybody with a couple days’ rest.”

This is the Heat’s fourth set of games consecutive against the same opponent so far this season, sweeping a two-game set earlier this week against the Hornets, after splitting previous such pairings against the Bulls and then Indiana Pacers.

“Having a better start, that has to stay fresh in our brain,” Lowry said, after the Heat fell behind 33-8 just 7:41 into Thursday night’s game.

That was the Heat’s largest first-quarter deficit since trailing the Utah Jazz 40-15 at the end of the first quarter of a Dec. 12, 2018 road game.

The Heat go into Saturday’s game having lost five of their last six to the Bulls.