There was good news and bad news for Heat fans Monday. The bad news is that Heat center Hassan Whiteside will have to sit out Monday night’s Game 4 with the sprained MCL he suffered in Game 3 on Saturday. The good news is that he’s listed as a day-to-day and won’t have to undergo surgery that would keep him out for the remainder of the postseason. Here’s what Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had to say on the matter. Via Michael Wallace of ESPN.com:
“Obviously, all of us were very concerned when we left the building [Saturday],” Spoelstra said Monday. “You try to stay positive, but you also are aware of the different scenarios there could be. It’s a non-surgery option, which is the best option, considering everything.”
Miami is in a tough position without their two best big men in the lineup (Chris Bosh will miss the rest of the playoffs with blood clots). That means they’ll have to turn to seldom-used Udonis Haslem, who was once a key cog in the Heat’s schemes but is now well past his prime playing days, and/or some combination of Amar’e Stoudemire and Josh McRoberts. That scenario, however, has been rendered more palatable due to the unfortunate injury news on the other side of the equation: the Raptors will have to play without Jonas Valanciunas through the rest of this series after he sprained his ankle in Game 3.
Miami will try to even things up at 2-2 before heading back to Toronto on Wednesday for a pivotal Game 5. Tipoff for Game 4 is at 8 p.m. ET tonight on TNT.
(ESPN.com)
