After criticizing Kel’el Ware following Thursday’s loss to Boston, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra walked back those comments in a session with reporters before tonight’s game, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald states in a subscriber-only piece. Ware spent the entire second half on the bench Thursday night, and Spoelstra said he needs to get back to stacking good days like he was seven or eight weeks ago. Spoelstra said tonight that he didn’t intend to single out Ware for the defeat.
“I didn’t articulate that in a great way and that wasn’t fair to Kel’el,” he said. “I wasn’t even frustrated. So what I’ll say is I’m fully invested in and invigorated about the opportunity to develop Kel’el, and our staff feels the same way. We’re going to give him everything we have to make sure he becomes the player that he wants to become, that we need him to become.”
Ware, who has been a frequent target of criticism from Spoelstra during his year-and-a-half with the team, didn’t seemed fazed by it when he talked to reporters tonight. He added that he hasn’t spoken to his coach about the latest comments.
“Just going out there and playing, basically,” Ware said in explaining how he responds to Spoelstra’s challenges. “In order to produce, I guess, like he said eight weeks ago, I would say I had more minutes eight weeks ago. But I guess to try to bring that same productivity to the minutes that I’m getting now.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- Heat guard Tyler Herro is sitting out tonight’s game against Oklahoma City due to a rib contusion, but he’s not expected to miss much time, Chiang tweets. “This shouldn’t be long term,” Spoelstra told reporters. “We’ll just continue to treat him and see how he responds.”
- Jalen Suggs has already been ruled out for Sunday’s contest in London, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). It will be the seventh straight missed game for the Magic guard since he suffered an MCL contusion on his right knee early this month.
- RayJ Dennis, who signed a two-way contract with the Hawks at the end of December, posted huge numbers for College Park in the G League on Friday (Twitter link). The 24-year-old point guard finished with 46 points and 15 assists in a win over Delaware while shooting 16-of-24 from the field and sinking five three-pointers.