Summer has been here before, the clock’s ticking, playoff luck in balance, all eyes are on the training room.
This time it’s Kyle Lowry and the hamstring strain that remains an issue 2 1/2 weeks after the fact, amid an Eastern Conference semifinal best-of-seven playoff series that ended in Game 5 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. is tied at -2. At FTX Arena.
Previously there was a knee for Tim Hardaway in 1999, a rib for Dwayne Wade in 2005, a knee for Hasan Whiteside in 2016.
There was no recovery every time.
The Heat are now stung by a foul move by Lowry in an April 22 loss in Game 3 of the first round against the Atlanta Hawks, coming from a series of defeats in Philadelphia, with considerable doubt about whether the leg can be regained. Is.
“I’ll put it this way,” Lowry said of his injury that Sunday turned Monday, “you don’t want to play with it.”
But he did, or at least tried, these last two games, shooting a combined 3 of 14 in the defeat.
“I want to be there,” he said of Game 5. “We’ll see what happens and how I respond to treatment. The goal is always to be outside and play with my teammates.
“It’s a tough time for the hamstrings. I’ve never had any soft-tissue [injury], But the goal is to be out there. So, like I said, I’m going to try to play, definitely try to play. ,
With Lowry’s absence winning the first two games of the series, the question becomes whether Lowry is better than the limited alternatives.
It’s an enigma for the more than 36-year-old former All-Star.
“I appreciate that,” Jimmy Butler said in the wake of his 40-point performance in Game 4 at the Wells Fargo Center. “We all do, and the fact that he wants to play, he wants to compete. And he knows our best chance of winning is with him on the field. We understand that.
“We also want our people to be safe. We always have more than enough to win. That’s what we always say. We believe so. Don’t get me wrong, that definitely helps us.”
So when asked if he’s worried, Butler said, “Not a lot, and at the same time.”
He continued, “Just because he’s my guy, he’s my point guard. And I don’t want anyone in this league to get hurt. But it still won’t give us an excuse not to win these games. Like I said “I want Kyle Lowry on the floor. I want our starting PG. But if he can’t go, it’s big shoes to fill, but someone has to do it.”
Third-year-old Gabe Vincent did just that to help the Heat win the final two games of the Hawks series and then the first two games of this matchup. But with each game, the stakes rise, with the 76ers now getting some of the best of James Harden, while the Heat could be tipped back to a point guard who was on a two-way contract a year ago.
Even at half-speed, which was the case for the 30:16 that Lowry played in Game 4, Sunday was also a contribution with seven assists.
“He’s the kind of warrior we just have to watch out for,” Heat coach Eric Spoelstra said of Lowry.
Still, with the game in balance, when a Lowry-level defense was needed against Harden when only one or two more shots could transfer the momentum, Lowry sat the final 10:18 on Sunday. He, alone, talked about what Spoelstra was seeing.
“It was just part of the game,” Lowry said. “That group had it going at the end. That group fought and was fighting to get back.”
At this point, Lowry said it’s nothing but another MRI or treatment at this time.
“I think we know what it is,” he said. “I think we can figure it out. My team doctors and our training staff, we will all communicate and stay on the same page and move forward from there.”
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