second-year 7-footer<\/a>, on what otherwise was a mundane statistical night for Ware, who closed with 10 points and four rebounds in his 30:48. \u201cHe started out giving up some offensive rebounds and (struggled in) the pick-and-roll coverages. It wasn\u2019t great.<\/p>\n\u201cBut then, when we needed him most, he played his best minutes. In the last eight minutes of the fourth quarter, he really came back to life, was protecting the rim, was closing out in our zone when he needed to, made some great reads with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of the push-pull with Spoelstra had been Ware\u2019s consistency in moments of truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I just was really pleased to see him be able to respond and have that kind of mental toughness,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cThat\u2019s growth in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previously in such situations, it would be Bam Adebayo in and Ware out. This time the two shared the floor together for the entire final period.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like he\u2019s handling them well,\u201d Adebayo said of Ware meriting such meaningful late minutes. \u201cHe\u2019s not getting too high on the highs and too low on the lows. And he\u2019s staying consistent.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always tell him, it might not be 15-15, five blocks. Sometimes it might be eight-eight and four blocks. It might be that some games. But for me, I just want him to keep impacting winning.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, at the close, when the Hornets shot 7 of 21 in that fourth quarter, forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. said the defensive approach was basic.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to funnel everything to him,\u201d Jaquez said of Ware. \u201cHe was just making play after play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injury report<\/p>\n
Guard Norman Powell is listed as out for Sunday night\u2019s game against the Detroit Pistons at Kaseya Center, the fifth consecutive game he will miss with a strained right groin<\/p>\n
In addition, forward Simone Fontecchio will miss a third consecutive game with a strained right groin and forward Nikola Jovic will miss an eighth consecutive game due to lower-back injury management.<\/p>\n
Also listed as out for Sunday are forward Keshad Johnson and guard Jahmir Young, who remain on G League assignment, and Terry Rozier, who is on NBA leave.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, forward Andrew Wiggins, who had been listed with back tendinitis and missed Friday night\u2019s victory in Charlotte, is listed as questionable for Sunday due to toe inflammation.<\/p>\n
Family Festival<\/p>\n
The Heat have announced a March 15 makeup date at Kaseya Center for last Sunday\u2019s rained out Miami Heat Family Festival, calling it a \u201cFamily Festival Follow-Up.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an email to ticket holders for the event, the Heat wrote, \u201cWe were incredibly disappointed that severe weather forced us to cancel this year\u2019s Miami Heat Family Festival \u2014 it\u2019s one of our favorite annual traditions, and we know how much it means to you and all the event attendees. So, while we couldn\u2019t control the weather, we still want to make sure you get the Family Festival experience. That\u2019s why we\u2019re hosting a Family Festival Follow-Up next Sunday, March 15, and we\u2019d love for you to join us. As a thank you for your support, you\u2019ll be able to RSVP at no additional cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Photo opportunities will be available with players on that date for event ticket holders, the Heat said, as well as food sampling from Arena restaurant partners, and interactive games and activities.<\/p>\n
Because proceeds benefit the Miami Heat Charitable Fund, the Heat are offering the opportunity to keep the contributions through ticket sales in place or refunds at ticketsales@heat.com. Even those requesting refunds will be admitted to the rescheduled event at no additional charge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 It has been nine games since Kel\u2019el Ware last started, a span when the Miami Heat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[114,123,125,2490,124,2295,110],"class_list":["post-182789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-heat","tag-miami-news","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}