Saturday night against the Toronto Raptors, Miami Heat point guard Goran Dragic was forced to leave the game following an inadvertent elbow to the eye from Cory Joseph as the Raptors guard drove to the basket.
The injury earned Dragic a new nickname from Hassan Whiteside, and also forced him to miss Sunday’s game against the Indiana Pacers. What initially looked like a normal black eye had swollen to cartoonish levels, as Dragic couldn’t even see out of the eye on Sunday.
This is why Goran Dragic cannot play tonight:; pic.twitter.com/4QTAxGLF2d
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) March 12, 2017
The good news for Dragic and the Heat, however, is that the injury looks much worse than it actually is. Following Sunday’s game, Dragic said that the eye itself is fine, and the only problem at the moment is the massive amount of swelling.
“I cannot even see in the right eye,” Dragic said Sunday. “I didn’t imagine it was going to be so bad. The right eye is completely closed. The doctor checked the eye last night. He said the eye is fine. Just swelling. We will do treatment [to get some] swelling down. There’s just pressure. No pain.”
Doctors have assured the team’s leading scorer that there will be no long-term damage in the eye.
With the Heat not scheduled to play again until Wednesday night, it’s possible to swelling will subside enough for Dragic to get back out on the court. Even if he isn’t ready by Wednesday, however, Dragic will be ready to go sooner than later. And that’s great news for a Heat team somehow on the brink of making the playoffs after starting the season 11-30.
