MIAMI — Norman Powell was back around his Heat teammates on Friday for the first time in nearly a week, but will remain sidelined Saturday when the Heat host the Washington Wizards.
Powell has been listed out the past three games due to an upper-respiratory illness, to be listed as out Saturday due to return-to-conditioning protocol.
Saturday’s absence will be Powell’s 23rd of the season, his 12th over the last 18 games.
“I’m feeling better,” Powell said after Friday’s practice at Kaseya Center. “It was a long week of being sick, out of it, fatigue, body aches, not really being able to move or get out of bed.
“But I’m feeling better now. You can still hear me, I’m a little congested and stuff. But it feels good to be back in here and get some work in and trying to get back as soon as possible.”
Just not on Saturday.
“Still got to do the return-to-play process,” he said. “I still got to get my conditioning and body feeling ready to go up and play a full, fast-paced game, don’t want to come back from sickness and rush it and get a soft-tissue injury.
“So I got to take the next couple of days just to get back in playing shape.”
After Saturday, the Heat next play on Tuesday and Thursday nights in Toronto.
Powell previously had been listed as questionable due to back spasms, prior to being listed as out due to illness.
“It’s not an issue,” he said of the spasms. “But my back is tight here and there. It was me feeling like I got hit by a semi-truck and everything like that. So back spasms cleared up, but yeah, I just got hit with some type of bug and that took me out.”
The missed time comes with Powell, 32, having been eligible for an extension this season, otherwise to be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
The latest absences comes in the wake of Powell’s first All-Star selection.
“I mean, very frustrating, wanting to continue to build, wanting to help the team,” he said.
He said it was particularly tough being out during this current run of eight losses in 10 games.
I’m just looking at how I can get back, focus on the road to recovery and hopefully get back in these games in Toronto and finish out the season,” he said.
While Powell practiced Friday, guard Tyler Herro was held out due to a sore right foot, but is listed as probable for Saturday.
Defensive component
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Friday that the Heat’s move to more zone defense factored in going with veteran point guard Dru Smith over rookie point guard Kasparas Jakucionis the past two games.
“Yeah, that’s not even like anything against Kas,” Spoelstra said. “In some of these games, we’re trying to do whatever we need to do. And in these cases, we’re playing a little bit more of the zone, and Dru is one of our best zone guys.
“But I also like Kas out there, too. He gives us a scoring punch. And right now it’s just by any means necessary. Our players understand that.”
Playoff tickets
Despite uncertainty of whether there even will be a home postseason game, the Heat on Friday announced ticket sales for all rounds of the postseason, from the play-in round through the NBA Finals.
Should the Heat finish as the No. 10 East seed, they would not host a game in the play-in round, regardless of those results.