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During the Miami Heat‘s rough 111-90 loss to the Phoenix Suns, Caleb Martin, who’s become one of the important and consistent parts of the team’s reserve, suffered a non-contact left injury.
With 5:37 left in the first half, Martin was fouled by Suns forward Mikal Bridges and landed awkwardly on the court. The 26-year-old forward limped off to the locker room and didn’t return to play.
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Heat’s head coach Erik Spoelstra said of Martin’s injury after the game, “We’ll find out tomorrow. Right now it’s a hyperextended knee, but we’ll see how he is tomorrow after sleeping and resting and go from there.”
On Thursday, March 10, Caleb sent a cryptic tweet, a simple thumbs-up emoji, which hopefully signals that the MRI revealed nothing serious.
Less than an hour later, more concrete news was revealed concerning Martin’s injury. South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman tweeted, “Good news: Turns out an MRI was not needed on Caleb Martin’s hyperextended left knee. A formal update expected soon.”
Martin’s knee injury was worrisome as the former Hornets player is already dealing with ongoing Achilles issues, which caused him to miss five games in February.
Bam Adebayo Sounds Confident that Martin Will ‘Bounce Back’
Thus far this season, Martin, who started out as a two-way player before the Heat elevated him to a standard contract in February, is averaging 9.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, ad 1.1 assists per game.
Following the Heat’s loss to the Suns, Heat’s All-Star center Bam Adebayo spoke about Martin’s injury.
“I mean, one thing you don’t like to see is one of your brothers go down,” Adebayo said. “He’s an important piece for us. He does so many things defensively, and he kind of has an offensive game. So that hinders us.
“You never want to see one of your brothers go down, obviously, but he’ll bounce back.”
Duncan Robinson Called the Heat’s Home Loss ‘Unacceptable’
Martin exiting Wednesday night’s game was an added blow to the team’s defeat at home. While Jimmy Butler was out due to sinus congestion, the Heat struggled on both offense and defense against the No. 1 team in the Western Conference. The Suns become the first team in the league to clinch a playoff spot following their win over Miami.
Sun Sentinel‘s Ira Winderman reported that “the Heat’s 55-38 rebounding deficit Wednesday was their third-worst deficit of the season, worst since being outrebounded by 18 in a Dec. 4 loss in Milwaukee.”
Sharpshooter Duncan Robinson, who scored 22 points against the Suns, shooting 6-of-11 on threes, didn’t hide his disappointment following the team’s lopsided loss.
“Obviously unacceptable,” Robinson said of losing at home in Miami. “We’ve been pretty good about it all year, but definitely a learning experience that now we know that definitely can’t happen.”
Next up, the Heat will focus their attention on Friday’s game at the FTX Arena, during which they’ll take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Heat remain in first place atop the Eastern Conference with a 44-23 record.
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