Heat center Bam Adebayo will miss Friday’s game because of a toe injury, but an MRI revealed that he didn’t sustain any broken bones or anything serious that would sideline him long-term.
Testing revealed Adebayo has a sprained left big toe. The Heat is listing him as day-to-day.
Also, the Heat said that Erik Spoelstra will coach the team on Friday against visiting Charlotte (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Sun) in the wake of a fire that heavily damaged his home. There were no reported injuries.
Firefighters batted the blaze at Spoelstra’s home for eight hours before extinguishing it. Video show Spoelstra, holding his head, walking near the fire, which engulfed the 5,700-square-foot, 5-bedroom and 3 1/2-bathroom house behind a stone wall near Davis and Ponce de Leon roads, a slice of Miami-Dade County just west of Old Cutler Road in Coral Gables.
The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue told the Miami Herald that the call came in at 4:36 a.m. on Thursday as a “structure fire at single-family residence,” when the Heat’s chartered flight from Denver was still in the air. Spoelstra was on the team’s flight from Denver after the Heat completed its four-game trip with a 122-112 loss to the Nuggets on Thursday night.
Spoelstra hasn’t commented since the fire; he will meet with reporters before Friday’s game.
On Friday, the Heat will be without Adebayo, who injured his left foot during a collision with Denver Nuggets forward Cameron Johnson about four minutes into Wednesday’s 122-112 loss to the Nuggets in Denver to close a four-game tirp. But Adebayo stayed in the contest, wincing in pain as he ran up and down the court before being subbed out for his usual rest with 3:48 left in the first quarter and heading back to the Heat’s locker room for the rest of the night.
Adebayo did not return to the game, totaling two points and one rebound in 8:12 of playing time before exiting Wednesday’s loss to the Nuggets.
“A guy hit me in the back of the leg and then I felt the pain in my foot,’” Adebayo said. “So, I took it upon myself to check myself out and go see what happened. ... Obviously, you don’t want to do anything more to cause any lingering effects. So, Spo checked me out.”
In Adebayo’s absence, the Heat will rely more on Kel’el Ware, who is the only other natural center who’s on a standard contract. Nikola Jovic also can play backup center. Also available: rookie center Vlad Goldin, who will join the team in Miami on Friday after being sent to a G-League assignment in South Dakota earlier in the week. Goldin, who is listed as probable on the injury report because he’s not yet in South Florida, is on a two-way contract but eligible to play in as many as 50 NBA games this season.
Adebayo’s early exit led to Spoelstra using Ware at center for most of Wednesday’s loss to Denver. Spoelstra even turned to 6-foot-6 forward Keshad Johnson to fill some of the center minutes in Adebayo’s absence.
As expected, Ware and Johnson couldn’t slow Nuggets three-time NBA MVP center Nikola Jokic. While Jokic finished with his fifth triple-double of the season on Wednesday, Ware posted a double-double stat line of 13 points and 13 rebounds but a team-worst plus/minus of minus 14 in 27 minutes and Johnson missed all four of his field-goal attempts while finishing with a plus/minus of minus 1 in nine minutes. Besides Adebayo, the Heat also will be without guard Tyler Herro (ankle surgery) and Terry Rozier (leave of absence after his arrest in a gambling ring). All other players on standard contracts are available.