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Miami Heat leading playoff scorer Goran Dragic has reportedly suffered a plantar fascia tear on his left foot in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, according to multiple NBA reporters on Wednesday, September 30 (Thursday, October 1, Philippine time) in Orlando.
After Dragic failed to start the second half in the midst of a strong Los Angeles Lakers scoring run, replays showed that he tweaked his left foot off a non-contact drive some time in the first half.
Dragic eventually didn’t see action at all in the second half as the Heat went down by as many as 32 points, 55-87.
Kendrick Nunn, the 2020 All-Rookie First Team member, played in his stead and dropped 18 points in 20 minutes off the bench.
Dragic finished with just 6 points in 15 minutes, his lowest scoring output of the 2020 playoffs so far. He quickly left the arena for reevaluation.
Prior to being sidelined, Dragic was playing admirably in the Heat’s unlikely barrage to the finals, averaging a team-best 20.9 points and 4.7 assists on a 45% clip across 15 playoff games.
While his return for the rest of the series after a 98-116 opening game loss is uncertain, it’s not out of the question yet.
Former Milwaukee Bucks guard and current Indiana Pacer Malcolm Brogdon suffered a similar injury in his right foot last year, and was sidelined for nearly two months.
Conversely, ESPN’s Bobby Marks reported that former Brooklyn Nets All-Star Joe Johnson was able to play through that same injury in the 2013 playoffs against the Chicago Bulls.
Although Johnson averaged 40.8 minutes in the next 5 games after the injury, he only shot 42% from the field and 19% from three-point land to the tune of 14.2 points per game. – Rappler.com
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