‘Positive attitude and a smile’ again put to test for Heat’s Oladipo on eve of surgery

As Victor Oladipo moves toward surgery later this week for the torn patellar tendon in his left knee sustained in Saturday’s playoff victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra offered a window into the previous relentless approach by the guard from such procedures.

“I think all these times behind the scenes, when no one is watching, I feel like I’ve had a front-row seat at that on all these off days the last three years, on weekends, when no one is here, but he’s on the training table and then working his way to the weight room,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat hosting the Bucks on Monday night at Kaseya Center in Game 4 of their best-of-seven opening-round series. “And it’s usually like a four- or five-hour process, and then finishing up with all the post-rehab work after working out.”

This will be the third major procedure Oladipo will attempt to return from during his Heat tenure, since being acquired in March 2021, with a $9.5 million player option with the team for next season.

Spoelstra said it was heartening watching Oladipo attack his previous recoveries with optimism, with this latest injury to keep him sidelined at least six months, and likely longer.

“There was a comfort level, I guess,” Spoelstra said. “Every time I would walk out of my office on those kind of lonely days, I would always bump into Vic. I had a firsthand sight of him going through this day after day after day, just showing great fortitude. And it can be really frustrating for a player.

“This year and last year, he worked his way to be healthy and back in it. But all those times where he was just rehabbing and not available to play, those can be very frustrating times. But you would never see that on his face. He would always be with a positive attitude and a smile.”

Oladipo made clear Monday that the pathway back would come on his terms, posting on Twitter about outside speculation on his timetable and plans, “It’s amazing to me how people who don’t know any details. Have all the answers.”

Two down

With the Heat lacking Oladipo and Tyler Herro, who broke his right hand in the series’ opener, it basically has reduced it to Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry as the team’s primary ballhandling guards.

Vincent said at Monday morning’s shootaround that there remains enough individual versatility to get the team through.

“We have a pretty versatile group,” he said. “We’ve had a number of guys handle or step up in that manner, whether it’s me or Kyle or Caleb [Martin] or Jimmy handles more, even Bam [Adebayo]. It’s not many teams that have a center that can get you into offense and bring the ball up the court.

“So I think we have guys in place, we have guys in place to help us with that.”

Forward Max Strus said help will be embraced from wherever offered.

“We don’t have a lot of bodies,” he said, “but maybe some other guys are going to step up off the bench.”

Truth or dare

Heat forward Jimmy Butler said that if the Bucks continue to dare him to take 3-point shots that he will take those plus more. Butler shot 4 of 4 on 3-pointers in Game 3.

“I can shoot the ball whenever I want,” he said. “I know I can make it. I’m not worried. And even if you back up off of me, if I want to get into the paint, I’ll still get into the paint. If I still want to shoot a mid-range jump shot, I’ll still shoot a mid-range jump shot.

“I think that’s part of picking your spots and when you get to where you want to get to, you can do whatever you want to do.”

Spoelstra said no issue from the coach, either.

“If you’re playing that far off, I feel like we’ve faced a similar coverage in years past,” Spoelstra said. “You have to take those shots. He’s worked on it diligently. You have to keep defenses honest.

“It’s not as if he’s just pulling out of a hat right now at this time of the year. He really works at it.”