With the Miami Heat (6-12) already dealing with its fair share injuries on its three-game road trip heading into Thursday’s contest against the Utah Jazz (11-8), guard Josh Richardson is expected to be added to that list with a sprained ankle.
According to Richardson, the injury occurred during Monday night’s 112-104 loss to the Boston Celtics:
“I wasn’t sure what it was,” Richardson said after Miami’s 106-98 win against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday. “I thought it was something minor but I just kept feeling it. I tried to walk through and do shoot around (Wednesday) morning and it was tough. I got treatment all day so I thought it would be better tonight, but I went out for warmups and it didn’t feel right.”
Richardson explained that he wasn’t entirely sure how the injury came about, as the play happened abruptly:
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“I remember I was guarding Terry Rozier, and Marcus Smart came out of nowhere and hit me and it was a foul,” Richardson said. “And I remember falling and I remember just kind of limping the rest of the game but I don’t know exactly how it happened. I just remembered it happened kind of fast.”
This is not good news for the Heat, who is already without the services of two regular starters in small forward Justise Winslow (wrist) and shooting guard Dion Waiters (groin) for at least Thursday night’s contest in Utah and Saturday against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Moreover, this is undoubtedly a tough blow for Richardson, who had just come back from a partially torn MCL. The second-year guard from the University of Tennessee has played in 13 games this season, making nine starts, and is averaging 10.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 28.1 minutes per game.
“I’m just taking it in stride,” Richardson said. “I’m not going to get down, I’m not going to get upset about it. I’ll just try to get back as fast as possible.”
The Heat is still debating on whether or not to send Richardson back home to Miami to get treatment, according to head coach Erik Spoelstra.
“That right now is becoming our three times a day, in our facility, treatment, conditioning center,” Heat head coach Spoelstra said. “There’s a lot of conditioning and a lot of treatment. More hours there than you’d be doing here.”
Waiters will be re-evaluated for his torn groin muscle in two weeks, while the Heat hopes Winslow will be a full participant in practice next week prior to Tuesday’s home contest against the New York Knicks at AmericanAirlines Arena.
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