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Veteran Heat guard Kyle Lowry did not practice Sunday after missing the final two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals with a hamstring injury, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said.
“He was doing things on the side, things of that nature,” Spoelstra said. “I don’t have an update on him.”
Lowry played in only two of Miami’s six games against Philadelphia, and three of the Heat’s first-round matchup against the Hawks.
Miami is 6-0 in playoff games without Lowry so far this postseason. Victor Oladipo and Gabe Vincent have done an admirable job filling in for the injured Lowry. Oladipo has averaged 11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists in the postseason this year, while Vincent has averaged 7.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
Miami will face either Boston or Milwaukee in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday at FTX Arena in Miami.
Mourning praises Spoelstra’s ‘masterpiece’
Heat legend and Basketball Hall of Famer Alonzo Mourning was inducted into the Jason Taylor Community Hall of Fame on Saturday, and he had kind words for someone who will likely join him in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
“Hands down, [Spoelstra is] one of the best ever,” Mourning said. “He’s had some excellent teachers. His father, obviously, Pat Riley. He’s had some excellent teachers. He’s just utilizing what he’s been taught and he’s incorporating his knowledge the game, as well, his own personal knowledge.
“And he’s created a masterpiece. He really has. And the beauty of it is that guys respond to him. One of the hardest things about coaching is to get 12, 15 guys — especially in basketball — to do what you ask them to do. You do it hard, you do it right. And Spo has the ability to do that, to get through to these guys and to get them to produce out there on the court.”
Mourning has worked in the Heat front office as the vice president of player programs for 11 seasons, and he said he and the rest of the organization are proud of what the team has accomplished so far this season.
“I know I speak for all the coaches and our management: We’re very proud of our guys,” Mourning said. “They know they’ve still got a lot more work to do. So we want to take these couple of days and try to figure out who we’re going to match up with. Guys are in the lab, they’re working, getting themselves ready for the next round.”
Spoelstra not into social media
Winning a pair of NBA championships and leading this year’s team to the conference finals doesn’t leave a lot of time to fire off tweets.
Spoelstra’s Twitter account has more than 34,000 followers but only one post: a tweet from October 7, 2010 that says, “Great Training Camp, fired up for the season.”
Spoelstra said Sunday that he didn’t even send that tweet.
“It was my brother-in-law,” Spoelstra said. “He set up my Twitter account and said, ‘Hey, you’re going to need to do this at some point.’ We were in Hawaii. He set up the account and then, whenever that was, before the season. … He thought it was the funniest thing ever.”
Although he is not an active poster, Spoelstra said he does appreciate what the team’s social media team does.
“I get stuff from the staff when they find something really funny,” Spoelstra said. “People will be passing around their phones and laughing at it. I think we have a super creative group. They have earned the trust of everybody in that building. … It’s cool. It’s great for fan engagement. Our players love it. We all are slowly coming around to that.”
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