Bam Adebayo exits early with left foot injury as Heat fall to Nuggets

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DENVER (AP) — Miami's Bam Adebayo checked himself out of Wednesday night's game against the Denver Nuggets late in the first quarter after experiencing pain in his left foot.

He didn't return.

The presence of the Heat's forward/center was missed in the middle as the Nikola Jokic-led Nuggets dominated the boards in a 122-112 win.

Adebayo is slated to undergo tests on his foot Thursday. He was hobbling around after the game.

“We'll figure it out,” Adebayo said.

With Adebayo sidelined, the Nuggets took full advantage.

More specifically, Jokic, who had 33 points, 16 assists and 15 rebounds for his fifth triple-double of the season. The Heat were outrebounded by a 61-38 margin, including 21-5 on the offensive glass. The 61 rebounds were Denver's most since May 5, 2021.

“Definitely tough,” Heat guard Norman Powell said of losing Adebayo early. “I thought we had a good rhythm to start the game, good flow, good energy, good pop to us. Getting stops, rebounds. He was battling. I didn’t see what happened, but it was just tough.”

Adebayo's a three-time All-Star and has made five all-defensive teams. He entered the night averaging 22.4 points and 9.1 rebounds.

“I have huge respect for him,” said Jokic, who was 12 of 18 from the floor. “Every possession he's playing 100% — sometimes even more than that. They definitely needed him on both sides of the floor.”

The Heat were up three — with another free throw on the way — when Adebayo left the game at the 3:48 mark of the first quarter. The Nuggets would begin to methodically pull away and stretch the lead to 17 in the fourth quarter. Miami made a late run before Jamal Murray sealed the win at the free-throw line.

“There are so many moments during the course of the game, those swing opportunities, that we didn’t manage well,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team finished 1-3 on a four-game trip. “Every time we got it to around six or eight, they would respond and it would end up being a 15-point lead. But that’s part of us learning. Even without Bam, I thought this was a game we could’ve put ourselves in a position to win.”

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