Miami Heat duo Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic are listed as doubtful for Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Heat started Game 1 on Wednesday positively but were quickly overrun and fell to a 116-98 defeat against the Lakers.
Their chances of starting the series with a victory were hurt by Dragic leaving the game injured in the second quarter, while Adebayo followed in the third period.
The Heat announced on Thursday that both players were doubtful to feature in Game 2 on Friday, with Dragic suffering a torn plantar fascia and Adebayo sustaining a neck strain.
Adebayo suffered a shoulder injury in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics but head coach Erik Spoelstra confirmed it was not a recurrence of that issue.
“It’s a different injury to his previous shoulder injury. It’s on the same time, so it’s easy to draw a comparison, but it’s a different injury,” said Spoelstra.
Kendrick Nunn replaced Dragic and contributed 18 points off the bench, while Tyler Herro added 14 to leave Spoelstra confident that Miami can cope with any potential absentees.
“At this point it’s all hands on deck and it’s not like the guys that are potentially sliding into the rotation haven’t played before, these guys have confidence and have played big roles for us all year long. Our depth has been one of our biggest strengths, we’ve utilised it all year long,” he said.
“The other benefit of all of this is we’ve been in this bubble with an extra training camp and everyone’s got great work in regardless of whether they’ve got big minutes in these playoff series. We’ll just have to see who is available and make those adjustments.”
Jimmy Butler played on despite twice rolling his left ankle. He wore a wrap on the joint when he spoke to the media but insisted he will be ready to play a part in Game 2.
“I’m okay. Like I always say, nobody cares. As long as I suit up and go out there and compete, I’m expected to produce and try to help win. If I suit up, which I will, we better win the game,” said Butler.
“They say when it’s bad, when it rains, it pours. All in all, though, we’re still expecting to win. We got here for a reason.”
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