What pains Goran Dragic most is not playing. So even though it meant additional discomfort during the Miami Heat's two-day Christmas break, the veteran point guard pushed through the soreness in his left elbow to return after a three-game absence Saturday.
"I talked to the doc and the pain is there. It is what it is," he said. "It's not the first time I'm playing through the pain. I'm going to try to be there for my teammates and try to do what I can and that's it, end of story _ try to do treatments and be professional."
Dragic shot 5 of 15 for 13 points with just two assists in going 29 minutes, 35 seconds in Saturday night's 109-94 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans at AmericanAirlines Arena. He has not shot better than 36 percent from the field in a game since shooting 7 of 12 in a Dec. 11 road victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
"I never want to make excuses," he said in the wake of the loss to the Pelicans. "I was out there and tried to do my best. We had a bad game."
With shooting guard Dion Waiters now out with another sprained left ankle, it has left the Heat without their 7-11 starting backcourt since the Dec. 16 home victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
The fact that Dragic was willing to step in when Waiters had to step out spoke volumes to coach Erik Spoelstra.
"I thought it was good for him just to get out there and get some rhythm," Spoelstra said, "and, again, he didn't have to. He just really wanted to be out there for the guys.
"The guys were really grateful for Goran. It just shows you what kind of warrior he is and the respect that he has in the locker room. Yeah, he felt it a few times, because he's so aggressive. You can't go out there and say, 'Well, I'm going to protect my elbow,' and then all of a sudden he's Tasmanian devil on those drives. There's going to be collisions, guys are swiping at him. But he made it through it."
Back, but not all the way back, on Saturday was forward James Johnson, who had missed the previous three games with bursitis in his right ankle. Johnson, though, only played 8:09, forced out for good with 7:10 to play on the second period after scoring on a four-foot jumper.
Johnson, based on the Heat's initial projections, had not been expected back until Tuesday's game against the Magic.
"I thought his minutes were really good," Spoelstra said. "As soon as he went on that drive and jumped off his right foot and he started limping, it was like (snaps fingers), I got him out and I wasn't even thinking about putting him back in. So he was re-aggravated.
"We'll find out how badly it was, but we're all on the same page about it. And thankfully we'll have a couple of days just to get some treatment and rest and we'll go from there."
Dragic said teammates were heartened by Johnson's determination.
"We have character. Everybody can see it," he said. "We don't use excuses. We have a lot of guys injured. We're just going to keep on playing. We can't say we're done and go home and not show up. That's not us."
