{"id":18959,"date":"2024-12-20T03:10:19","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T03:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18959"},"modified":"2024-12-20T03:10:19","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T03:10:19","slug":"news-how-heats-nikola-jovic-plans-to-elevate-potential-after-recent-ankle-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18959","title":{"rendered":"NEWS: How Heat’s Nikola Jovic plans to elevate potential after recent ankle injury"},"content":{"rendered":"
MIAMI \u2013 It was an impressive outing for Miami Heat star Nikola Jovic in the win over the Toronto Raptors last Thursday as it was his first minutes in the rotation since Nov. 24, but he would experience an ankle injury after in practice. The outing seemed to mark Jovic’s return to the Heat rotation, but that was halted as he was out Monday’s loss to the Detroit Pistons as he spoke after Thursday’s practice about his health.<\/p>\n

Jovic is on a positive path to return to the lineup Friday as he recorded a full practice session, a Heat spokesperson told ClutchPoints Thursday. He is officially listed as \u201cquestionable\u201d for the contest per the team’s X, formerly Twitter, account, but the star said he \u201cwould love to play\u201d against the Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel pretty good,\u201d Jovic said following Thursday\u2019s practice. \u201cBut we\u2019ll see what the training staff and everybody has to say about how smart it is to play [Friday]. But I would love to play and we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

As said before, the timing could not be worse for Jovic as he was coming off a performance that reminded fans of the talent he has as he was a former first-round pick in 2022. He would act as the spark plug that turned around the game for the Heat against Toronto as he finished with 14 points on four of five shooting, two of two from deep, to go along with four rebounds, a block, and a steal.<\/p>\n

Heat’s Nikola Jovic on how recovering from ankle injury was \u201cnot easy\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"How
Rhona Wise-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 21-year-old would be honest to the media after Thursday’s practice, saying that \u201cit was not easy\u201d to sustain the injury, especially in the manner he got it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not easy,\u201d Jovic said. \u201cBut it\u2019s something I couldn\u2019t avoid. I jumped and landed on somebody\u2019s foot. It\u2019s nothing new. Unfortunately, it\u2019s the same ankle [one he hurt earlier in the season], so it hurt a lot more. But I\u2019m just trying to get back as quickly as I can. I feel like I\u2019m almost 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Related Miami Heat NewsArticle continues below<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Jovic would be relegated to the Heat’s bench after finishing last season and beginning this year in the starting lineup at the power forward spot. After a slow start, Erik Spoelstra made the change and even saw a couple of energizing outings in the second unit. He would not see playing time for an eight-game stretch, but the win over the Raptors showed his strengths.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I feel like I did when I was in the second unit, for that little stretch, just drive to the basket and create openings for others,\u201d Jovic said. \u201cI had some open shots. Especially with the second unit, it\u2019s kind of easy to get to the rim. And, like lately, I\u2019m really trying to get to my spots, and I really feel like I know how to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

At any rate, the Heat are currently 13-11, which puts them sixth in the Eastern Conference as they look to bounce back after Monday’s loss to the Pistons and perform well against the Thunder on Friday night.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Niko speaks about his health!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18960,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[40,289],"class_list":["post-18959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-erik-spoelstra","tag-nikola-jovic"],"yoast_head":"\nNEWS: How Heat's Nikola Jovic plans to elevate potential after recent ankle injury - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18959\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NEWS: How Heat's Nikola Jovic plans to elevate potential after recent ankle injury - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Niko speaks about his health!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18959\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-20T03:10:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/01-2024-12-20T101008.902.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsHan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsHan\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18959\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=18959\",\"name\":\"NEWS: How Heat's Nikola Jovic plans to elevate potential after recent ankle injury - 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