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Hassan Whiteside will not travel with Heat for Game 5

Robert Duyos, USA Today Sports

The Miami Heat will be without Hassan Whiteside for a second straight game. Miami’s center will not travel with the team for their Game 5 showdown against the Toronto Raptors, the Associated Press reports.

“The Heat were flying north on Tuesday. Before departing, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Whiteside will remain home to continue getting therapy on his injured right knee.”

While this news is obviously not good for Miami, it’s also not surprising. He suffered a sprained MCL in the Heat’s Game 3 loss to Toronto, which is the same injury (though not necessarily the same severity) that kept Golden Statte Warriors star Steph Curry out of action for two weeks.

The absence of Whiteside is offset by the loss of Toronto’s center Jonas Valančiūnas, who will be out of action for the remainder of the playoffs. Still, the Heat will need to win another road game if they’re going to win this series. That’s noteworthy, as Whiteside was a huge factor in Miami’s only other road victory against the Raptors, as he grabbed 17 rebounds in a Game 1 victory.

The first four games of the series have been almost unbelievably close. Three of the four games have gone to overtime, while the other was a four-point Toronto victory.

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