Oladipo helps deliver clincher for Heat, who move to Round 2
It was about a year ago. Victor Oladipo was sitting alone in a dark room. The realization that he needed a second surgery on his right leg was settling in. Frustration, fear, sadness and anger just came pouring out of him.
He broke down.
“I was at the lowest point I could be at,” Oladipo said.
That moment is clearly not forgotten: Oladipo gave his recollections of what went on in that room Tuesday night, to illustrate both where he was and where he is. He scored a team-high 23 points in Miami’s series-clinching 97-94 win over the Atlanta Hawks, a victory that sent the Heat to the second round of the playoffs.
It was only the 10th game this season for Oladipo, including the regular season. But with Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry sidelined, the Heat needed someone to step up in Game 5. Many did, including Oladipo, who needed two surgeries to fix a right quadriceps tendon, spent basically a year rehabbing after each of those procedures, and has been limited to 66 games in the last three seasons combined.
“I can’t really explain why I’m going through what I went through,” Oladipo said. “I can’t really explain why I’m here today. But I’m staying in the moment and making every moment mean something. Just going out there and playing hard, man. We had a great win. A great series. But the job isn’t done yet. There is still a lot more basketball left. We’ve just got to keep getting better. That’s what I’m focused on doing.”
It’s the 12th time that the top-seeded Heat have moved into the conference semifinals; Game 1 against either fourth-seeded Philadelphia or fifth-seeded Toronto will be in Miami on Monday.
For Oladipo, it’ll be a first. He’s appeared in 18 playoff games in his career, all of them of the first-round variety.
“I really admire him. I do, for this journey for the last three seasons where he’s been dealing with injuries and frustration, and then really working to make himself available …