Heat’s Caleb Martin playing through pain and producing: ‘It’s just that time of the year’

Miami Heat forward Caleb Martin has dealt with injuries throughout the season. Some have forced him to miss extended stretches, and he has also been able to play through others.

That trend has continued even during Martin’s best stretch of the season.

Jimmy Butler faces doubles, late-game struggles and other Heat takeaways from loss in Dallas

Martin entered Friday night’s matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center averaging 13 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 18 of 32 (56.3 percent) from three-point range in seven games after the All-Star break. He has also turned his defense up a notch, totaling three steals and seven blocks following the break.

Martin has done most of that while playing with a thumb injury on his non-shooting hand that’s expected to require surgery this upcoming offseason. He hurt his thumb during the Heat’s Feb. 29 loss to the Nuggets in Denver and the team has listed the injury as a sprained left thumb.

“This injury is just not going to change,” Martin said ahead of Friday’s game in Oklahoma City. “It’s going to have to be taken care of at some point down the road. So at this point, it is what it is and I’m just going to play through it until it doesn’t allow me to. But I’ve already gone through it with the medical staff. They said that I can get it taken care of later, so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to just play through it and do what it’s going to allow me to do.”

During this stretch since the All-Star break, Martin also turned his ankle and received six stitches after getting hit in the mouth while playing with a wrap around his left thumb after hurting it last week.

But Martin has continued to produce positive results in a bench role. After starting 18 of his first 39 appearances this season, Martin has played six consecutive games as a reserve leading up to Friday’s matchup against the Thunder.

“Off the bench, you see how the game goes, kind of how things are being played out and seeing the openings,” said Martin, who recorded 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and one block in 33 minutes off the bench in Thursday night’s 114-108 road loss to the Dallas Mavericks. “Offensively, seeing what guys are trying to get to. On the defensive end, you just get a good look at the game before you get in.”

Martin has also been closing games. Entering Friday, he has logged a team-high 75 minutes in the fourth quarter since the All-Star break while posting a positive plus/minus of plus-20 in those late-game minutes.

This two-week stretch is the best Martin has played this season after injuries limited his availability for the first three months of the schedule. He missed 10 straight games early in the season because of left knee tendinosis and seven straight games in late December and early January because of a sprained right ankle.

This surge from Martin comes just in time for the stretch run, with only five weeks left in the regular season.

“I think with good players and good teams, every time you play high level competition and things intensify, you see what guys grow and what guys kind of shrink,” Martin, 28, said. “I always feel like I play my best when the stakes are higher. I just try to hone in and just amplify my game around this time of the year, for sure.”

How does Heat coach Erik Spoelstra explain Martin’s recent stretch of strong performances?

“I think the biggest thing is he’s gotten healthy,” Spoelstra said earlier this week. “He didn’t have his legs under him at the beginning of the year. So he was just kind of doing whatever he had to do just to get it up there and to be available for the team. That’s a great credit and salute to him. At the beginning of the year, he wasn’t anywhere near full health. Then how competitive he is, he’s just going to go all out with no brakes and he just has to kind of try to figure it out on the fly. But he has his legs under him now.”

The problem is other parts of Martin’s body are hurting, like his thumb. But he plans on continuing to make himself available and essential to the Heat’s success.

“It’s just that time of the year,” said Martin, who has not missed a game since Jan. 10.

All while also understanding that his play in the coming weeks will likely help determine his NBA future. Martin can become an unrestricted free agent this summer with a $7.1 million player option in his contract for next season.

“It’s not going anywhere,” Martin said of the looming uncertainty that won’t be decided until this upcoming offseason. “So the more you think about it, it’s not going anywhere. So, yeah, you know it’s there, but it don’t mean [expletive] if you’re not playing well anyways. If anything, that’s part of simplifying the mental aspect of it, just focusing on impacting winning games.

“At this point, people kind of know what you can and can’t do and what you bring to a team. Whether it’s play-making, shot-making, defense, whatever it is. So it’s not like my role is going to be able to grow exponentially inside a couple months. I think that helps me not worry about it as much.”

DOUBLE VISION

The Mavericks sent double-teams at Jimmy Butler nearly every time he had the ball on Thursday night, throwing Butler and the Heat’s offense out of rhythm.

Butler, who entered Thursday’s matchup against the Mavericks averaging 23.8 points per game on 53.7 percent shooting from the field since the start of February, was limited to 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field in Dallas. He also only attempted two free throws and committed a season-high six turnovers.

“I think I just got to pick my spots better, not turn the ball over as much and honestly just continue to play basketball the right way,” Butler said following the loss to the Mavericks. “Put all the trust that I always do into my guys and we’re going to live with the result of them taking and making all the wide open shots that they’re going to continue to get when teams double.”

Thursday marked just the second game in Butler’s NBA career that he has scored fewer than 15 points while committing six or more turnovers. The other came in Butler’s third NBA season as a member of the Chicago Bulls in a Dec. 29, 2013 loss to the Mavericks.

“They were pretty committed to getting the ball out of his hands and getting him out of his sweet spots from there,” Spoelstra said Thursday. “It’s good that we see a lot of these things because we have to find different ways then to make sure he gets activated and other ways that he can get to his strength zones. He’s fully capable of that. I also need to do a better job getting him at the top of the floor and into some other areas, where it’s not as easy to corral him.”

INJURY REPORT

The Heat ruled out Tyler Herro (right foot medial tendinitis), Kevin Love (right heel bruise) and Josh Richardson (right shoulder surgery) for Friday’s game against the Thunder.

The rest of the Heat’s roster is expected to be available on the second night of the back-to-back set.