The Miami Heat fans collectively held their breath when Nikola Jovic took a hard fall during a dunk attempt in the first quarter of their 106-96 home loss against the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.
Jovic, who was able to play only 12 seconds before his injury, left the game and didn’t return. Fortunately for the Miami Heat, the X-rays on Jovic’s injured right arm returned negative.
“It looks like we dodged a bullet on that one,” Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said of Jovic via Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “He came down really hard, and split his elbow open. So it was bleeding. But the scan came back negative, which is a good thing.”
“But that’ll be sore for a while. We’ll get an MRI tomorrow, just to make sure there wasn’t anything else that we saw. But the bones are fine. He lost all feeling in his hand because it was a massive stinger. But like I said, hopefully we dodged a bullet,” he added.
Miami Heat News: Erik Spoelstra explains why Tyler Herro was a late scratch vs. Toronto Raptors
Tyler Herro was supposed to suit up for the Miami Heat against the Toronto Raptors after missing two straight games. However, the one-time NBA All-Star was held out due to a nagging right big toe contusion, as the team doesn’t want to risk any further injury.
“He and the trainers met. And he just didn’t feel right, they didn’t feel right about it,” Spoelstra said of Herro. “We’ll re-evaluate him tomorrow and see what the next step is or where he’ll be tomorrow.”
Besides Herro, the Miami Heat also missed the services of Pelle Larsson, who sprained his left ankle in Tuesday’s defeat to the Orlando Magic. This season, the team is 3-3 in the six games with Herro in the lineup.
