Erik Spoelstra was surprised by how the Serbian star remained unbothered by his nasty injury fall in the Miami Heat's Monday loss against the Toronto Raptors.
Erik Spoelstra was beyond bewildered by what he saw in Nikola Jovic's face following the forward's nasty landing that led to his right elbow injury in the Miami Heat's 106-96 loss against the Toronto Raptors.
Nikola Jovic
Nikola Jovic
Nikola Jovic
MIN: 19.26
PTS: 7.61 (47.13%)
REB: 3.72
As: 2.83
ST: 0.56
BL: 0.39
TO: 1.94
GM: 18
Following the game, the Heat head coach also positively revealed that the initial scan came back negative on Jovic's right arm.
"Yeah, crazy Serbian," Spoelstra said about Jovic. "I couldn’t believe he was smiling and laughing when we all went up to him. I think that was his way of lightening the moment—he probably saw the look on all of our faces. It was a hard fall.
"Hopefully it looks like we dodged a bullet on that one. He came down really hard and split his elbow open, so it was bleeding."
12 seconds after he entered the game for the first time in the first quarter, Jovic went up for a transition finish. But a contest from Toronto’s Collin Murray-Boyles led to his awkward fall to the ground.
He remained on the floor for a few minutes as several Heat players and staff checked his condition. He walked off the court wearing an arm brace, and it can be seen that he's still smiling as he left to enter the locker room.
Jovic was ultimately announced unavailable to return for the remainder of the game for the Heat.
"The scan came back negative, which was a good thing, but it’ll be sore for a while. We’ll get an MRI tomorrow just to make sure there wasn’t anything else we missed, but the bones are fine," Spoelstra added.
"He lost all feeling in his hand because it was a massive stinger. Like I said, hopefully we dodged a bullet."
Jovic, 22, is averaging 7.6 points and 3.7 boards in his fourth campaign for the Heat. He recently expressed disappointment over his inconsistent role and minutes for the team this season.
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