One point you must remember and consider with Pat Riley is that injuries are guarded as closely as all the family’s dirty laundry. No sense bringing out that scandal with old Aunt Edna now unless absolutely necessary, huh?
So when the team says that shooting guard Dan Majerle has a “sore right shoulder” and is a game-time decision for tonight’s pivotal Game 3 of the first round playoff series against the Knicks, the antenna goes up.
Majerle may indeed be a scratch, more likely to play Friday, and the Heat might announce him as a “Did Not Play, Coach’s Decision.” Majerle last year was listed as suffering with a groin injury but bailed out on the series after two games to undergo surgery for a hernia.
A Heat spokesman said yesterday that Majerle, who was clocked by a Patrick Ewing screen late in the third quarter Monday, had not suffered a separated shoulder but had a bruise and soreness. Majerle went for initial X-rays which were negative, the team said. “I’m going to try to play if I can,” he said.
But if he can’t, then likely Keith Askins would start and the trickle down domino effect would hit the Heat bench – and the Heat game plan. Majerle is a good ball handler and much of that chore would fall to Jamal Mashburn, who is not in Majerle’s class. And who has struggled so in the series that he didn’t even play in the fourth quarter of Game 2. Riley could also opt to start Terry Porter, but the Askins scenario is far more probable, although that will leave little in terms of defense coming off the bench as a possible answer to Latrell Sprewell.
The world will know today around 8 p.m. And why announce anything beforehand. Keep ’em guessing, never let ’em see you sweat.
“Whatever is needed,” said Askins, who can be an impact defender – witness his key block on Allan Houston at the end of the third quarter. “Any time I can get out there and help the team win is great, whether it’s one minute, two minutes, 30 minutes. It’s about the team winning.”