As this series continues, there remains that lingering question of whether or not Udonis Haslem will return either this series or the next one, and if so, whose minutes will he take.
Haslem still reports some soreness in the foot, but figures he could be ready soon if needed, especially if it's for five-minute segments or so.
The problem is, whose minutes will he take if he does play? When he was playing, it was backing up Chris Bosh and playing some center. Well, the current group is playing well with either James Jones or LeBron James spending some time at power forward. And for him to play some center, you're talking about taking minutes away from Joel Anthony, who has been playing very well of late and is a better shot blocker than Udonis.
As the playoffs progress, you'd assume that the minutes of Bosh and James get even higher, which would mean even less opportunity for Udonis. That's not to say Udonis doesn't have something significant to offer to the team, but tinkering with the lineup in a potential second-round matchup with Boston could be horrible timing.
Now, Udonis is probably best suited to defend Glen Davis and has a history of playing against Kevin Garnett, so that could definitely prove beneficial. But he'd have to be ready to play and not slowly working his way back.
Best case scenario for Udonis and the Heat in this scenario is for the Knicks-Celtics series to go the distance while the Heat sweeps Philly. That way the team will have a little extra practice time and get Haslem as acclimated as possible to actual game activity.
Speaking of finding minutes for someone. Are we seeing the last of Mike Miller's minutes because of his thumb injuries? He played three minutes in each of the first two games, and with Jones playing well and LeBron playing about 42 minutes a game, it looks like there's no rush for Erik Spoelstra to carve out minutes for Mike. Miller's too good a teammate to complain about it, but if he needs surgery on that left thumb, which requires months to fully heal, he should either get the surgery now and be ready for next year or be used in a capacity that can actually help the team.
Just because the team hasn't really needed him against the Sixers, it doesn't mean he won't be very useful in the next series or two (or three?).
Can't imagine it's fun being Mike Miller right now.
By the way, is it some kind of sign from above that the two guys who gave up the most money to play on this team have had frustrating, injury riddled seasons? Maybe it should be all about the money?
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