It wasn’t something Bam Adebayo chose to bring up, but considering he spent the last few days on the Miami Heat’s injury report listed with a strained left hamstring, it was also a reality which he was asked to address.
So, yeah, it wasn’t all Adebayo amid his uneven play over the last week.
“Constant treatment, 24 hours,” said Adebayo, who was listed as probable for Game 5 on Wednesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks in the teams’ best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series.
Adebayo spoke at the Fiserv Forum on Wednesday morning after sitting out the team’s morning game.
“In the treatment room, three, possibly four times a day,” the 25-year-old All-Star center said. “And I’m just trying to make sure I’m healthy enough to play and keep playing.”
He said there was no specific time he could cite that he was injured.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I just know I woke up one morning and it hurt. So for me, it’s about taking it slow, taking it easy and being healthy for the game.”
Adebayo has appeared in 75 of 82 regular-season games, missing just one through injury since Jan. 10, when he sat out the April 1 home win over the Dallas Mavericks with a bruised right hip. He was also given the night off for the April 7 road loss to the Washington Wizards, when the Heat were effectively locked out of their postseason berth.
The Heat are already out with guard Tyler Herro out after breaking his right hand in the series opener against the Bucks and guard Victor Oladipo out for months with a torn patellar tendon in his left knee suffered in the Heat’s Game 1 win 3.
Not the time
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra entered Wednesday night one win from joining Phil Jackson (229), Pat Riley (171), Gregg Popovich (169), Doc Rivers (108) and Larry Brown (100) with at least 100 postseason wins.
“That’s not, and I’m saying as humbly as I can, that’s not on my radar,” said Spolestra, who took over as Heat coach in 2008-09. “Generally, I pinch myself every day when I get to make a role in this Association and make a living for a long time.
“This is the ultimate blessing.”
The game factor
Spoelstra was asked Wednesday about the unusual road this season, a path that included a playoff loss to the Atlanta Hawks and a win over the Chicago Bulls, and whether those games strengthened his team for the opening round against . USD.
“I think we embraced that experience and it gave us the opportunity to compete and have to beat a good team in Chicago,” he said. “Whether that means anything now, I don’t know.”
Spoelstra said each playoff path has its own story.
“This playoff run was new for us,” he said. “We had to go through a play-in, which was an amazing experience, to be a part of it. And then to be an eight seed, playing against a number one seed that we have a lot of respect for.
“I want our guys to embrace all these different experiences. And finally, you have to find a new way to conquer them.”
Butler’s influence
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray said he channeled his Jimmy Butler in his 35-point effort Tuesday night to end his team’s series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Murray said Butler’s 56-point performance in the Heat’s Monday night win over the Bucks provided ample motivation, including a game-clinching jumper by Butler.
“You know when you look at something, you get goosebumps or your heart skips a beat or something?” Murray said. “Jimmy was incredible. You could see his emotion when he hit that shot. He felt that kind of energy. He felt absolutely unstoppable, which he was.
“We’ve had a few moments like that,” Murray said. “I felt pretty good.”
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