Life without Kyle Lowry will continue for the Miami Heat for at least more game.
Left knee soreness will force Lowry to miss his 14th straight game when the Heat hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun).
While the Heat has not offered a definitive timetable for Lowry’s return, there’s optimism within the organization that he’ll return before the end of the season and possibly within the next week with 16 regular-season games left. He has not played in a game since Feb. 2 and was at the center of trade speculation ahead of the Feb. 9 trade deadline.
Along with Lowry, the Heat ruled out Nikola Jovic (G League assignment) and listed Kevin Love (right rib contusion) as questionable for Wednesday’s game against the Cavaliers. If Love can play, it would mark his first game against his former team since agreeing to a contract buyout with the Cavaliers last month.
The only time Lowry’s status has been upgraded while he has been out during the last month was when he was made questionable for the Heat’s game against the 76ers in Philadelphia on Feb. 27. But Lowry was again downgraded to out after he and the team decided he was not yet ready to play following a workout the day before that game.
The Heat and Lowry continue to take a cautious approach with the lingering soreness in his left knee.
Lowry, who turns 37 on March 25, has battled through left knee pain for the last few months. He missed two games because of left knee soreness in December and four games because of left knee discomfort in January before this current 14-game absence because of left knee soreness. The injury has required ongoing treatment.
It has been a struggle for Lowry this season. He has averaged 12 points and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 39.6 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three-point range in his 17th NBA season.
The last time Lowry averaged fewer than 13 points per game in a season was in his first year with the Toronto Raptors in 2012-13, the last time he shot worse than 41 percent from the field in a season was also in 2012-13, the last time he shot 34 percent or worse on threes in a season came in 2014-15 with the Raptors, and the last time he averaged fewer than six assists in a season came in 2009-10 with the Houston Rockets.
Lowry has started in each of his 44 appearances this season and has not played off the bench since the 2012-13 season with the Raptors. It remains to be seen if Lowry will be the Heat’s starting point guard when he returns, or whether Spoelstra continues starting Gabe Vincent.
The Heat has posted a 6-7 record in the first 13 games Lowry has missed during this stretch. He has been at Miami-Dade Arena to watch the first four games of the six-game homestand from the Heat’s bench.
JOVIC’S NEXT STEP
Jovic is not yet ready to make his Heat return, but he is at least healthy enough to start playing five-on-five basketball again in the G League.
As Jovic continues to recover from a lower back stress reaction that has kept him sidelined since early January, the 19-year-old rookie began his G League assignment by playing in a game with the Sioux Falls Skyforce on Monday. He recorded 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 shooting on threes, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and six turnovers in a win over the South Bay Lakers.
“He just needs to play. That’s the most important thing,” Spoelstra said of Jovic’s G League assignment. “Physically, he feels much better. He’s done all the drill work, he’s done all the player development. He needs five-on-five and as many practices — there’s not a ton of games left. But all of that will be important to set up this offseason.”
THIS AND THAT
— With the Heat entering Monday’s fourth quarter in a four-point hole before rallying for a 130-128 win over the Atlanta Hawks, it marked Miami’s league-leading 12th victory of the season when trailing after three quarters.
— The Heat played its 36th game decided by five points or less of the season on Monday and is on track to close the regular season with 44 such games, which would set a new league record. The NBA’s all-time team record for the most games decided by five points or less during a single season is 41 by the Denver Nuggets in 1977-78.
The Heat has also played in a league-leading 46 clutch games (one that has a margin of five points or fewer inside the final five minutes of the fourth quarter) this season.
