The Miami Heat are in dire need of another shot creator in their first-round matchup against the Boston Celtics. Unfortunately, Terry Rozier might be nowhere near a return to the court.
Rozier has not played in roughly two weeks because of a neck injury, having to sit out the team’s play-in games and its series opener against the Celtics on Sunday.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra labeled the point guard day-to-day, but a team insider sent out a word of caution on how that term can used loosely in some instances when, in fact, the player involved is actually week-to-week.
This appears to be one of those cases.
Only time will tell how long Rozier remains on the sideline. The good news is that his ailment isn’t thought to be career-threatening, although he has yet to be given a clean bill of health.
Unfortunately, Miami will have to be creative with its lineup in the meantime, considering that Jimmy Butler is expected to be out for several weeks after sustaining a sprained MCL. As such, the Heat will have a tough hill to climb as they fight for their season.
The squad is off to an inauspicious start against Boston after getting blown out on the road in Game 1. The Celtics raced off to a 17-2 lead in the opening minutes of the contest before Miami slowly chipped away at the lead. Miami managed to pull within five at the end of the first period, but it was mostly downhill from there.
In the end, Boston took the first meeting 114-94, with six of its players scoring in double digits.
Bam Adebayo admirably held down the fort on offense for Miami, scoring 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting. However, Tyler Herro, who put up 24 points in the Heat’s victory over the Chicago Bulls in the second leg of the play-in tournament, was held to just 11.
Hopefully, Rozier can recover well enough to play and give Miami another potent offensive weapon versus his former employer. In 31 appearances with the Heat in the 2023-24 regular season, he averaged 16.4 points and 4.6 assists per contest.
The next bout will be on Wednesday, and some Heat fans will likely be monitoring Rozier’s availability in the coming days.