As Miami Heat star Norman Powell returns from Thursday's loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, 124-117, the team has received an important injury update on the All-Star guard. While the Heat star is dealing with a serious groin injury, an MRI revealed the severity of the problem, as well as how much time he will miss.
Powell will be out for Saturday afternoon's match against the Houston Rockets after an MRI revealed he has a Grade 1 strain, as he will be considered "week-to-week" by the team. The week-to-week label is more important than the "day-to-day" label as other players have been considered in the past.
Looking at this upcoming week, after Saturday's game, Miami will have four games and Powell will be at risk of missing all of them due to a groin strain. Powell played only 10 minutes in Thursday's loss, missing the game with a groin injury after he entered the game questionable with the issue before being upgraded to "available."
"We'll have to evaluate it when we get back to Miami," Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra said via video from the team's YouTube page after the loss. "It wasn't that he couldn't [play]This was a slide against [Tyrese] Maxi, and he took it too far. So that's what he's dealing with, and we'll just have to see what it is."
Heat's Tyler Herro likely to fill void left by Norman Powell
Powell has been Miami's leading scorer with 22.5 points on 47.3 percent shooting from the field and 39 percent from three-point range, making the 32-year-old a first-time All-Star. For most of the season, he served as the top offensive guard due to Tyler Herro missing significant time.
Now the roles will be reversed, with Herro coming off the bench since returning from a rib injury, one would imagine he has been included in the starting lineup, although the ongoing injury issues with the team have been frustrating.
“It's obviously very difficult,” Herro said. "We just want to stay healthy, keep people healthy, pray for Norm. I hope he's OK."
It remains to be seen how long Powell misses time for the Heat.
