The Miami Heat have hit the skids recently, losing five of their last six games to drop their record to 23-19. The Heat have had a lot of trouble recently with their offense, particularly shooting, and to make matters worse they have injury issues at the point guard position. Goran Dragic is dealing with a calf strain while his backup Beno Udrih is dealing with a neck injury, and it seems like they both could miss another week of action.
Dragic was dealing with a thumb injury earlier in the month, but he was able to play through that. He then injured his calf against the Warriors last week and has missed the last four games because of the injury. Dragic is still feeling some pain in his calf when he stands on his tiptoes, so there is no timetable for his return, according to Ethan J. Skolnick of the Miami Herald. The injury comes at an unfortunate time for Dragic, as he was playing his best basketball of the season, but the silver lining is that his thumb is healing while he sits because of the calf injury.
Udrih took over for Dragic as the starting point guard for two games and played pretty well, but he then hurt his neck this past weekend against the Nuggets. Udrih was acquired by the Heat in the trade that sent Mario Chalmers to the Memphis Grizzlies, and he has been pretty good. Udrih's timetable is also a bit up in the air at the moment as he still has some pain in his neck, but he travelled with the team and is expected to miss about another week, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
With both Dragic and Udrih out, the Heat have had to rely a lot on Tyler Johnson who has played big minutes in the last two games. Johnson has had a solid season overall, but he is coming off a very bad game against Milwaukee and is better served coming off the bench. Rookie Josh Richardson has also had to take on a bigger role in the past few games, and he hasn't done a great job of it as he has shot just 3-for-16 in Miami's last three games.
The good news for Miami is that both players traveled with the team for their upcoming five-game road trip, which likely means their absence shouldn't last too much longer. Udrih seems closer to returning than Dragic, but clearly the Heat need them both back as soon as possible.
