After a throttling loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, Miami Heat small forward Luol Deng indicated that his hand injury, which he sustained in the first half, will likely cause him to miss some time during the Heat’s upcoming road trip.
Although his x-rays came back negative, Deng is still suffering from deep bone bruising on his right thumb and index finger. When asked if he expects to play in Friday’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Deng said he was uncertain due to the delay of a potential MRI.
“I wish I could tell you. I wish it would have made more improvement today than [Wednesday], but there’s still some swelling in it. But we’ll see. I’m still going to take it day by day, try to be back as quick as I can.”
Though it seemed like a minor injury at the time, Deng was taken out of the game against the Hawks on Wednesday and did not return for the second half due to pain. He is wearing what he describes as a “heavy wrap” around his wrist, and is avoiding physical contact while it heals. It is unlikely that Deng will be well enough to play in Friday’s game, yet he remains hopeful that with proper treatment and patience, he will bounce back quickly.
“It’ll be all right. It’ll be all right,” Deng told reporters in the locker room. After a series of injuries that has taken player after player off of the court this year, Deng is confident that things will get better.
“I think the way the East is shaping up, it’s really going to take time, but you just can’t allow frustration and all that stuff to get in. I mean, we’re human. You definitely get flustered and stuff like that.”
Though forward Norris Cole returned to practice on Thursday, the splintered team who just welcomed Dwyane Wade’s return to the court, is still missing center Chris Andersen who is out with a sprained ankle.
“It’s frustrating at times,” Deng admitted, “but you’ve just got to try to stick with it.”
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