Hassan Whiteside really can’t catch a break.
The Miami Heat center hit the deck getting fouled fighting for an offensive rebound early in the second quarter on Saturday and headed to the bench immediately. There was a little bit of contact on the play from Luol Deng, and his knee looked like it bent sideways a little as he fell.
As play started up, he limped to the locker room with the Heat’s trainer. He will not return to the game due to a right knee sprain. X-rays were negative, but this is obviously a major concern for Miami, and he’ll undergo an MRI on Sunday, per Ethan Skolnick.
Right knee injury of some kind for Hassan Whiteside. Awkward fall, limped to the locker room. #Heat pic.twitter.com/J044byoY2k
— Dime Magazine (@DimeMag) May 7, 2016
Whiteside originally hurt the knee in Game 3 of the Charlotte series, and he had a scare in the first quarter of Game 1 when his right leg folded underneath him. He’s been limited in team activities but hasn’t seen a hit to his minutes, insisting he’s in good enough shape to play. He’s also dealing with a right thigh issue, a left elbow injury, and has a cold. It’s a tough life he’s living, right now.
Losing Whiteside for any amount of time would be a disaster for the Heat, who only have Amar’e Stoudemire and Udonis Haslem behind him at center. Haslem can bang with Valanciunas and Stoudemire can still score a little bit, but neither can really protect the rim, and it’s a big win for the Raptors if either are on the floor. The Heat threw Josh McRoberts out at the five when Whiteside checked out, and while McRoberts was a really fun and effective player a few years back, even as a stretch-five to space the Raptors out, the Heat would surely prefer him to be playing a specialist role.
With any non-Whiteside center, there’s just a ton of pressure on the Heat defense to prevent attacks at the rim, and the Raptors should respond by being very aggressive. It also means there’s even more incentive to feed Valanciunas, at least against non-Haslem defenders, though he’s struggled in the first few possessions since Whiteside left, against McRoberts of all people. I thiiiink he’ll win that battle more often than not. The Raptors can’t let up or look away from the paint – they need to hammer the Heat’s biggest deficiency, which is now rim protection. It’ll be really frustrating if they don’t.
