MIAMI — Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo both took flight with the Miami Heat on Thursday to New York after spending the past week as spectators on the bench at Kaseya Center.
And spectators they remain, with both formally listed as out by the team for Friday night’s game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Adebayo has missed the past four games with the toe sprain sustained in the Nov. 5 road loss to the Denver Nuggets, then sitting out the just-completed four-game homestead.
Herro has been out since September ankle surgery, with an eight-week timetable for recovery, a timetable that reaches eight weeks Friday.
In Adebayo’s absence, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has had Kel’el Ware, Pelle Larsson and Andrew Wiggins as his starting frontcourt.
In Herro’s absence, Spoelstra has gone with Norman Powell and Davion Mitchell as his starting backcourt.
In addition to the questions of the Heat’s injury report, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson left Wednesday night’s home loss to the Orlando Magic with an ankle sprain, departing in a walking boot and on crutches. He has been ruled out for Friday night, listed as day-to-day beyond.
That injury could come into play twofold for the Heat, with the Heat and Knicks to also play Monday night at Kaseya Center.
For the Heat, the absence of Brunson is accompanied by the cautionary tale of Wednesday night’s 130-116 home loss to a Cleveland Cavaliers roster playing in the absences of Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Darius Garland, among others.
“They had a lot of guys missing, and I think that may have gotten to us,” Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. said. “Great teams, it doesn’t matter who’s out there, you’ve got to put your best foot forward. Obviously, we just didn’t do that.”
Powell similarly said that Wednesday should stand as a lesson learned, with Friday night’s game also an NBA Cup game.
“We got to be better,” Powell said. “It doesn’t matter who is suiting up. We got to focus on what we need to focus on and play our brand of basketball, no matter who we’re lined up against.
“We got to turn the page quickly. We’ve got an in-season tournament game against a Knicks team that is going to be hungry. They’re playing well. We beat them here, so I know they want to protect homecourt.”
The Heat won the first of the four meetings between the teams 115-107 Oct. 26 at Kaseya Center, when Powell scored 29 and Adebayo added 19 points and 13 rebounds. The Knicks that night were without Mitchell Robinson and Miles McBride.
NBA Cup
Friday night’s game will be the second of four in pool play for the Heat in the league’s in-season tournament, with NBA Cup results also counting in the overall standings.
The Heat won their first NBA Cup game 126-108 last Friday against the visiting Charlotte Hornets. The Heat played their regulars to the finish in that game, with total margin of victory among the prime tiebreakers from pool play.
The winner of each pool plus one conference wildcard team advance to the event’s knockout round.
The Heat are in East Group C in pool play at 1-0 along with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Chicago Bulls are 1-1 in the pool, with the Knicks and Hornets at 0-1.
The Heat’s remaining games after Friday in pool play are Nov. 21 at Chicago and Nov. 26 at home against Milwaukee.
As with all nationally televised NBA Cup games, including the knockout round, the games will be available only via streaming on Amazon Prime. Such is the case with Friday night’s Heat-Knicks, which will not be carried by FanDuel Sports Network Sun.