Miami Heat: Best For Team And Kyle Lowry That He Sits Until ‘Right’
As the Miami Heat get set to go into their matchup against the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Eastern Conference Finals, they will do so without one of their leaders, most proven pieces, and key cogs all year long in the lineup.
Injuring his hamstring in the Game 3 of their first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, Kyle Lowry hasn’t been himself since. Though he came back in the Philadelphia 76ers series in the second round to give it a go for his team, soldiering through about 56 minutes combined in Games 3 and 4 of that series, he clearly wasn’t himself, healthy, and seemed to further agitate it a bit.
Sitting for the remainder of their Eastern Conference Finals clinching series, the Miami Heat’s QB1 probably had hoped to be ready for Game 1 of the actual conference finals. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
As expected, Kyle Lowry out Tuesday for Heat. Questionable:
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) May 16, 2022
Caleb Martin (ankle sprain), Max Strus (hamstring strain), P.J. Tucker (calf strain) and Gabe Vincent (hamstring strain).
With him out, they’ll turn to another guy who is also listed as questionable on the above report, but who has started six games for the Miami Heat in these playoffs already. That means that they, apparently, trust him too.
The Miami Heat go into Game 1 of the ECF with Boston without their “QB1”. That’s ok though, as he should continue sitting until he’s ‘right’.
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That would be Gabe Vincent.
That brings you to an interesting thought though. To get right to it, that would be that Kyle Lowry sitting out, right now, isn’t the worst thing for him or the Miami Heat.
The Miami Heat ran a tick better as a team, fluidity-wise, with more electricity, with better spacing, and on both sides of the ball when Vincent was the starter—after Kyle Lowry initially injured himself in the Atlanta series. Even when Lowry came back to try and gut it out for two games in Philly, he wasn’t the same, and subsequently, the team wasn’t the same.
When Lowry went back down and Vincent came back in, things re-regulated themselves. It’s not that Vincent is better than a healthy Lowry, even at this point, that’s also the crux of the case though.
Kyle Lowry isn’t or hasn’t been healthy and without some of the things he can do, when healthy or close enough to be right, he hurts you in these high-leverage moments. That’s why it’s good for both the Miami Heat and him that he will sit out longer.
They will be more effective if he, indeed, still isn’t healthy enough to give them what they need from him but at the same time, it allows him to get back to that point as the Miami Heat, hopefully, progress deeper into their postseason run.
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It’s really pretty simple when you think of it that way. That’s why Kyle Lowry’s Game 1 absence won’t be the worst thing for him or his team—right now.