Five Miami Heat Players Miss Practice Friday

As the Miami Heat begin preparation for their second-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers, they are still dealing with some injuries.

Five players did not practice Friday in their first workout since closing the series against the Atlanta Hawks earlier this week. Caleb Martin (ankle), P.J. Tucker (calf strain), Jimmy Butler (knee), Kyle Lowry (hamstring) and Tyler Herro (illness) all did not practice.

Butler and Lowry are the most severe of the injured players. Butler did not play in the series-clinching Game 5 against the Hawks while Lowry missed the past two games.

"Each day we'll get a better idea," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "But everyone is making progress."

The series opens Monday at FTX Arena.

Sixers coach Doc Rivers has nothing but respect for the Heat.

After the Sixers defeated the Toronto Raptors and advanced to meet the Heat in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, Rivers offered his thoughts on the matchup.

We're going to go play grown men, and we're looking forward to the challenge,'' Rivers said.

The Sixers won the first three games against the Raptors before dropping two straight. They closed it Thursday in impressive fashion with a 35-point victory behind 33 points from center Joel Embiid.

''This series made us a better basketball team,'' Rivers said. ''We actually needed them in some ways. We are a new team and we're still growing. All the switching and all the different things they did, I thought it was really good for our team. I thought it was something good to go through.''