The Miami Heat could be without Mike Miller for several weeks after the swingman suffered a fluke injury to his shooting hand. Miller's right hand became tangled in a teammate's jersey during practice Wednesday, causing injury to his thumb. "It was just a drill," coach Erik Spoelstra told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "He got it caught in a jersey with some contact, on a post-up."
An exact diagnosis has not been revealed, but he was scheduled to visit a specialist and undergo an MRI on Thursday.
The Miami Heat have been no stranger to injury this preseason -- most notably, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James tweaking their hamstrings. But James has already returned to the lineup, and Wade was just cleared to resume full contact drills.
In fact, Miller suffered a minor injury earlier this week, rolling an ankle twice during Monday's game with the Charlotte Bobcats But that ailment was minor, and Miller was originally expected to play in Thursday's game in Atlanta. Instead, Miller stayed behind as his teammates made the trip, with everybody holding their breath the injury is not serious."Obviously, he's disappointed," teammate Udonis Haslem told the Sun-Sentinel. "He was so excited to be here and be a part of this. The good thing is it's not season-ending, from what I'm hearing. So that's a good sign.
"We look to get him back as soon as possible. He's a big part of this team."With Miller sidelined, the Heat will lean on James Jones as a sharp-shooting reserve who can stretch the defense. Understandably, though, Jones wasn't happy about the manner in which he climbed the depth chart.
"It really, really stinks that Mike's injured," Jones told the paper. "Once again, it's one of our shooters, his shooting hand.
"I feel bad for him because I know how much time he's put in, how sharp he's been. I'm kind of speechless."
While Miller's uncertain status weighs heavily on the players, the team did have some good news: in addition to Wade being cleared for practice, Eddie House, recovering from offseason surgery, and Mario Chalmers, recovering from a high-ankle sprain, were both cleared to play against Atlanta.
-- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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