Heat may get Love back Tuesday vs. Warriors, but remains without Herro and Robinson

After missing the past 13 games with a bruised right heel, Kevin Love is nearing his return for the Miami Heat.

Love has been upgraded to questionable for Tuesday’s matchup against the Golden State Warriors at Kaseya Center (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun) — the Heat’s third game in a four-game homestand. It marks the first time Love has been upgraded on the injury report since he injured his heel during a Feb. 27 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Love, 35, has established himself as an effective backup center for the Heat behind starter Bam Adebayo. While Love has been out for the last month, the Heat has primarily relied on Thomas Bryant to fill the backup center spot in the rotation.

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Love is averaging nine points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game while shooting 34.9 percent on 4.5 three-point attempts per game in 47 appearances (five starts) with the Heat this season.

The Heat also listed Jaime Jaquez Jr. (left ankle discomfort) and Caleb Martin (right ankle discomfort) as questionable for Tuesday’s game. Jaquez missed his first game with the injury in Sunday’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, while Martin played through his ankle pain on Sunday.

But the Heat will remain without Tyler Herro (right foot medial tendinitis), Josh Richardson (right shoulder surgery) and Duncan Robinson (left facet syndrome) on Wednesday against the Warriors. Herro will miss his 16th straight game and Robinson will miss his fourth straight game, while Richardson has been out since February and will miss the rest of the season.

WILD RIDE CONTINUES

The Heat followed up its third-most lopsided loss of the season with its most lopsided win in more than two years over the weekend. It’s been that type of up-and-down season for the Heat.

“The one thing about our group is this group really cares. Even after a night like the other night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said following Sunday night’s 121-84 blowout win over the Cavaliers at Kaseya Center, just two nights after Friday’s 23-point home loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

“This is a team that cares deeply and there are so many of the guys who have a personality — throw me in there, too — where we beat ourselves up after poor performances and we just can’t wait to get back out there again to make amends for it. That’s the thing I really admire about this group.”

Sunday’s 37-point rout of the Cavaliers marked the Heat’s most lopsided win since defeating the Milwaukee Bucks by 42 points on Oct. 21, 2021. It’s also just the ninth game in franchise history that the Heat has won by 37 or more points.

The Heat’s 45-point lead in Sunday’s fourth quarter marked its largest in a game since taking a 46-point lead over the Chicago Bulls in a playoff game on May 8, 2013.

“I think our home fans really deserved this, to be honest with you. We haven’t been playing the best basketball at home,” Heat forward Haywood Highsmith said. “So they deserve our best version of basketball and tonight was definitely fun for them. It was just nice to do this in our own building and kind of just build off of this.”

The Heat posted its best single-game defensive rating of the season on Sunday, allowing the Cavaliers to score just 88.4 points per 100 possessions. Miami improved to 8-0 this season when holding its opponent under 100 points scored per 100 possessions.

“Instead of just focusing on misses or whether shots were going in or not, we just doubled, tripled, quadrupled down on trying to have a massive collective defensive effort every single possession to see what that could generate for us,” Spoelstra said following Sunday’s victory.

“I think sometimes we talk too much about the offense, whether the ball is going in or whether it’s the right shot profile or whether it’s this or that. Sometimes you can control a game with your efforts, your toughness and committing to doing all those tough things. I don’t even know what our offensive profile was today. I just like the efforts, I like the energy, I like the enthusiasm.”