Miami Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo said he “feels great” after leaving Monday night’s preseason loss in Atlanta with a bruised knee.
Adebayo, 28, left in the third quarter, finishing with 13 points and nine rebounds in 19 minutes in a 119-118 overtime loss to the Hawks.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said the decision to keep Adebayo on the bench for the remainder of the game was a precautionary measure.
“He landed awkwardly, but he says he feels good,” Spoelstra said. “We’ll see when we get back to Miami. But as you saw, he was able to stay there for the rest of the game (on the bench). I just wanted to make sure it didn’t get any worse, so I kind of sat him out from there.”
The Heat are 0-5 heading into Friday’s preseason finale at home against the Memphis Grizzlies. Miami opens the regular season on October 22 at the Orlando Magic.
A three-time All-Star and five-time All-Defensive team, Adebayo averaged 18.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 78 games (all starts).
–Field level media
