The Miami Heat will be looking for its second straight win on Wednesday and might have reinforcements coming. No, Victor Oladipo won’t be making his Heat debut but the team might be getting Kendrick Nunn back.
Nunn has been out since March 26 when he went to the locker room in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle. He had been on a three-game tear — 57 points in 10 quarters — after taking over for Goran Dragic in the starting five.
Miami upgraded Nunn from doubtful to questionable for tomorrow’s matchup against the Indiana Pacers. The second-year guard would give them a huge boost, averaging 13.5 points and 2.6 assists while shooting 37.2% from deep. If Nunn cannot go Dragic would likely draw the start.
Kendrick Nunn (ankle) upgraded to questionable for Heat for Wednesday at Indiana. Victor Oladipo (illness) still not with team and out, as are Haslem and Okpala due to protocols.
“K-Nunn has incredible competitive character. He really does,” Spoelstra said of Nunn earlier this year. “He has a grit and a perseverance to him that not only do you have confidence that he’ll be able to respond with this kind of adversity, but you respect him so much that you’re, like, really rooting for him, and you really want it of him.”
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Heat Taking Baby Steps with Top Rookie
Precious Achiuwa knew he was going to be pressed into more minutes with the departures of Meyers Leonard and Chris Silva. He saw 11 minutes on Monday night, mostly in relief of starting center Bam Adebayo.
“Precious is taking it step by step,” Adebayo said. “Being that young and being put in a position for that many minutes to be responsible for, you know, he’s still trying to figure it out. It’s kind of funny because sometimes he’ll do something in the game and it’ll just bring me back to when I was a rookie. And I used to make thise little mental mistakes.”
The 6-foot-9 Nigerian had been mentioned prevalently in trade talks prior to the deadline. Obviously, Heat president Pat Riley wasn’t ready to part ways with his 2020 first-round pick (20th overall). Achiuwa might have to grow up fast, too, after the team missed out on LaMarcus Aldridge in the buyout market. They don’t have another option at center and Trevor Ariza is slowly getting acclimated at the power forward spot.
“But the one thing I like about Precious is he retains information like crazy,” Adebayo said. “He’s one of those dudes where you give him a little bit of information each day, he just values it and puts it on the court every night.”
Kelly Olynyk Playing Well in Houston
It seemed like Kelly Olynyk never got the full respect he deserved in Miami. He was the constant topic of trade conversations while getting blasted by Heat Nation on Twitter. Now he’s gone. And playing quite well in Houston.
Olynyk was sent packing to the Rockets as the “centerpiece” in the Oladipo deal. And while Oladipo has yet to suit up for the Heat, the guy they traded for him has been the best player on the court for his new team. Olynyk scored a season-high 25 points on Monday night and tallied 16 points the game before that. MVP.
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