MIAMI – With the Miami Heat preparing for Game 4 on Monday night when they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers to prevent a sweep, one of the few bright sides has been the return of Nikola Jovic. As the Heat’s young star is working through some rust after an extended absence, Jovic spoke to ClutchPoints after Sunday’s practice, as he touched on his health among other topics.
Jovic dealt with a broken right hand that made him miss 28 games in the regular season, which was no doubt a gut punch as he served as a crucial component off the bench for Miami. Starting to find a role within the team, he would tell ClutchPoints how sudden his season changed, calling the recovery process “really humbling.”
“It was really humbling,” Jovic said. “Because you go from feeling like, first time you’re in the spot, you know, you’re ready to play, I was giving us some solid minutes, and then out of nowhere, you’re out for two months, now you got to come back. You’re in the playoffs out of nowhere. You’re playing against the No. 1 team in the East. You know, the whole team is struggling, now you gotta be good for them, and I gotta be better. That’s just the truth.”
Jovic would first be made available in the second play-in tournament game against the Atlanta Hawks, but didn’t play until Game 1, though he logged one minute. It wouldn’t be until Game 2 that he played meaningful minutes, the first since Feb. 23, where he recorded 25 minutes, scoring 11 points on four of 12 shooting from the field.
Heat’s Nikola Jovic on how he feels after recovering from the broken hand
While there was rust and even the Heat’s talented forward himself saying he cost the team the win, he showed glimpses of his game on offense that made fans excited in the first place. In regards to his health, that’s not too much of a problem anymore, it’s more about building his “confidence.”
“I feel great, I really do, I feel really good,” Jovic said. “I feel like I’m ready to go. You know, I just got to build my confidence. I’m pretty confident, it’s just, you know, my shots are good, they’re just not falling right now.”
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In the 46 games played this season, he averaged 10.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 45.6 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from three-point range. Still 21 years old, the sky is the limit for Jovic in the eyes of fans and the team as he continues to put in the work as he did alongside other young players like Jaime Jaquez Jr., Keshad Johnson, Josh Christopher, and others after Sunday’s practice.
“I mean, you know, we’re just getting extra work,” Jovic said. “I don’t think it’s anything different, you know, some of us are not playing heavy minutes. And I feel like, especially with the Heat here, every day, you get extra reps, and you can improve. You know, no matter what, what day it is, what time of the season it is, if you’re not playing a lot, I feel like there’s no reason not to put some extra work in.”
Heat’s Nikola Jovic on possibly heading into the final game of the season
As the Heat are in a 0-3 hole to the Cavs with a win-or-go-home Game 4 up on deck, one would think the practice before the contest would have a heightened sense of urgency. However, Jovic would say that the team always has the same intensity, especially since this marks the third elimination game for the team this postseason.
“I feel like it always feels the same. You know, we always bring the intensity, we’re always here, you know, guys are locked in, and it’s same as every practice, we know we got to do, it’s win or go home every game, you know, we’re down 3-0, we’re not in a great spot about, you know, we’ll do what we have to do. We know we cannot go out like this. And we’ll go game by game. We’ll see where it brings us.”
Jovic looks to find a groove during the rest of the series as Miami hopes to extend the series on Monday night when they host Cleveland.
