PHILADELPHIA – With Erik Spoelstra expressing hope of his rotation to again soon be whole, reinforcements returned Saturday for the Miami Heat.
While Andrew Wiggins and Duncan Robinson remained behind for the start of the three-game trip opening with Saturday night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Arena, Spoelstra said Saturday both are working toward a return.
Wiggins was listed as out due to right-hamstring tendinopathy.
“It’s been getting tight the last two games,” Spoelstra said after the morning shootaround at Temple University. “We feel this is the right step, right now. We will see how he progresses.”
It is the third ailment Wiggins has dealt with since being acquired at the Feb. 6 NBA trading deadline from the Golden State Warriors for Jimmy Butler. Wiggins previously missed one game with stomach illness, five with a sprained right ankle, and, most recently, two with a lower-leg contusion.
Factoring in sitting out his first game after the trade, it has had Wiggins out for 10 games and available for 15 since the trade. Among the reasons the Heat were reluctant to offer Butler the extension eventually granted by the Warriors was a lack of availability.
For Spoelstra, it is about empathy for Wiggins at this stage.
“There’s been a lot of things this year that you can’t even explain, different guys going out at not the most ideal times,” Spoelstra said of the Heat’s personnel and injury rollercoaster. “I know Wiggs just really wants to be out here. And everybody can see it – when he’s out there, he makes us different.”
Spoelstra said it became evident by the end of Thursday night’ victory over the Atlanta Hawks at Kesaya Center that further treatment was necessary.
“But we also have to be responsible right now and make sure it doesn’t turn into something else,” Spoelstra said. “By the time we got to the fourth quarter, it looked like he was gutting it out. With intensive treatment, his body should respond.”
As for Robinson, he now is listed as being out due to left-sacroiliac joint dysfunction. He previously had been listed out the previous two games due to lower-back pain. By NBA rule, injury listings must be more specific after being listed for two games with a general issue.
Robinson missed nine of the final 14 regular-season games last year with what was listed as left-facet syndrome, not himself thereafter during the postseason.
“It’s different than last year,” Spoelstra said. “We think we will be able to manage it. We want to be responsible and give as much treatment and then appropriate ramp-up.”
Spoelstra said Wiggins and Robinson continue to work toward a return.
