Heat’s season so far a pain in the groin, as Powell, Jaquez explain

MIAMI — To a degree, the season already has been a pain in the groin for the Miami Heat, with three players missing time with groin strains.

The latest to fall upon such hard times is forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., who missed his first game of the season on Saturday night against the Detroit Pistons with a strained right groin.

But there also is an ongoing struggle elsewhere on the roster.

Back since last Wednesday after missing a game with what was listed as a strained left groin, guard Norman Powell said he is continuing to work and play through the issue.

“I’m not fully healthy,” said Powell, whose gait has been noticeably off at times over the past week. ” I haven’t been fully healthy in a couple of games.”

But, he said, healthy enough to have received clearance to return.

“We talked to the doctors, talked to the medical staff, just in the location of the strain, they think it can still heal while I’m playing,” he said, with the Heat closing out a four-game homestand Monday night against the Los Angeles Clippers at Kaseya Center. “It’s managing it and if something is too uncomfortable or whatever, then letting them know.”

Powell had missed three games, out for a week, with a strained right groin earlier in the season.

“But just the location is different than the previous groin strain that I had, that had me out longer,” Powell said, with the Heat next moving on to a two-game trip Wednesday against the Dallas Mavericks and Friday against the Orlando Magic. “So it’s in a weird spot where it’s not super limiting and I’m still able to play.”

As for Jaquez, he said he is coming around.

“I feel a lot better,” he said of his recovery since sitting out Saturday. “I feel a lot better, a good day of rest and rehab yesterday. I’m feeling a lot better.”

Limited previously by groin ailments, Jaquez said this strain is “definitely less significant.”

“It was bothering me the game before, the Milwaukee game,” he said of last Wednesday night. “In the Milwaukee game, when I was going up, I got fouled by I think Bobby Portis. I went into him, felt a little pull in my groin.

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“So taking extra precautions. But I do so much, a lot of work every single day with our trainers. So I think all that work made it so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”

The other Heat player who has dealt with a groin strain this season is first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis, with the guard taken at No. 20 out of Illinois straining his right groin during the preseason and then being listed as sidelined by the ailment the first seven games of the season.

While Jakucionis and Heat two-way players Vlad Goldin, Jahmir Young and Myron Gardner all have been recalled from the Heat’s G League affiliate, it remains somewhat of a revolving door for the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Guard Ethan Thompson, who had been off to a solid start for the Skyforce after a solid summer and preseason with the Heat, has been signed to a two-way contract by the injury-ravaged Indiana Pacers.

Thompson had been averaging 26.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.5 assists with the Skyforce,

In advance of that loss, the Skyforce brought former Heat two-way player Josh Christopher, who remains free to be signed by any NBA team.

As for the Heat players returning from the Skyforce, each put up numbers of note with Sioux Falls.

In his seven Skyforce appearances, Jakucionis averaged 16.4 points on .411 shooting (.316 on 3-pointers), 5.4 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 3.4 turnovers in 25.7 minutes per game.

In five appearances, Goldin averaged 16.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 25.4 minutes per game.

In six appearances, Young averaged 25.5 points on .419 shooting (281 on 3-pointers), 5.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists in 34.9 minutes per game.

And in eight appearances, Gardner averaged 17.5 points on .458 shooting (.500 on 3-pointers), 10 rebounds and 3 assists in 28.6 minutes per game.