Miami Heat’s Hassan Whiteside out for Game 4, Valancuinas to miss series for Raptors

It seems the Miami Heat could have Hassan Whiteside back this series, while the Toronto Raptors will be without their big man.

This post has been updated to reflect that the Miami Heat have ruled Hassan Whiteside out for Game 4 on Monday.

Hassan Whiteside will miss Game 4 Monday with a sprained right MCL. He is listed day-to-day, the Miami Heat announced Sunday after an MRI. He was in a walking cast during practice, according to reports.

Whiteside got hurt during the first half of Miami’s Game 3 loss Saturday after falling awkwardly after going for a rebound. He bumped into Luol Deng and Raptors guard Kyle Lowry on his way down. Upon hitting the floor, Whiteside immediately grabbed his right knee, went to locker room and did not return to the game.

Later in the game, Raptors center Jonas Valancuinas took a hard fall after contesting a Dwyane Wade shot at the rim. He sprained his right ankle and, like Whiteside, was in obvious pain and went straight to the Raptors’ locker room. He didn’t return for the rest of the night.

After also undergoing tests, Valancuinas has been ruled out for the rest of the series, of which the Raptors have a 2-1 lead.

How does this impact the series?

For the Heat, they certainly grab an advantage if Whiteside is able to come back and the Raptors are without Valancuinas. The Toronto center had been consistently beating Whiteside in the one-on-one matchup in the paint, however his backup Bismack Biyombo is not nearly the offensive post threat Valancuinas is.

That’s assuming, of course, that Whiteside returns. This right MCL sprain is the same injury that Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry has, and he’s been out for about two weeks now. It’s no guarantee that Whiteside returns to this series, and even missing a game or two could be costly in what has been a very tightly played series thus far.

Without Whiteside, the Heat went to a center-by-committee approach in the latter half of Game 3, with mostly Udonis Haslem and Josh McRoberts getting most of the minutes, and Amar’e Stoudemire playing a spot four minutes.

Haslem has been strong defensively, especially against Toronto’s pick-and-roll but, at 35, you wonder how much longer he can sustain such an effort of playing 22 minutes.

McRoberts has struggled for most of the season, but was strong in his minutes defensively. He finished a plus-8 for the game.

It’s unclear if Whiteside will be available for Game 4 in Miami on Monday, but the Heat aren’t waiting on him. Erik Spoelstra remained positive after the game despite the loss, saying he trusts his remaining centers and believes the Heat have enough to win without Whiteside.

More heat: 4 notes from Heat's Game 3 loss to Raptors

Let’s hope he’s right because, after the Raptors stole back home court advantage, the Heat need to get things back on track in a hurry.