
Goran Dragic out vs. Pacers After Suffering Eye Injury Against Raptors
Miami Heat point guard Goran Dragic won't suit up Sunday night against the Indiana Pacers after he took an elbow to his right eye in Saturday's 104-89 win over the Toronto Raptors.
The Sun-Sentinel's Ira Winderman posted a pregame photo that showed Dragic's right eye swollen shut:
It's not the first time this season Dragic has missed time due to injury.
Dragic suffered a sprained left ankle against the Chicago Bulls on Nov. 10, but X-rays came back negative after he appeared to be in serious pain on the floor.
Miami's floor general proceeded to miss the next three games, but he returned to the floor on Nov. 17 and has been a staple of Miami's resurgence ever since.
In 58 games this season, Dragic is averaging 20.1 points and 6.0 assists while shooting 48.4 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from three-point range for a Heat team in flux.
Since the Heat don't have a prototypical backup point guard on the roster, they'll likely turn to third-year pro Tyler Johnson to pick up the slack.
While Johnson—who played 52 percent of his minutes at the 1 last season—isn't a conventional primary ball-handler, he's an evolving talent who has earned loads of playing time thanks to his accelerated development over the past couple of seasons.
"He's a force of nature out there," head coach Erik Spoelstra said, per Winderman. "He doesn't do everything perfectly by the script, and that's what I love about Tyler. He's an ultimate competitor. He finds a way."
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com unless noted otherwise.









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