While it has been determined that Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic doesn’t need surgery, his status for the rest of the season is in question after breaking his right hand on Sunday.

The Heat announced Tuesday that Jovic “will be in a splint and re-evaluated in four weeks” after fracturing the second metacarpal of his right hand. Jovic was evaluated on Tuesday by chief of hand surgery Dr. Elizabeth Ann Ouellette in collaboration with Heat team physician Dr. Harlan Selesnick at Doctors Hospital Surgery Center in Miami.

There are just 26 games and seven weeks left in the Heat’s regular season.

Jovic broke his right hand early in Sunday’s loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum. After logging 15 minutes in the first half of that defeat, a halftime X-ray on his right hand revealed a fractured second metacarpal.

Jovic’s injury puts a pause on one of the best sustained stretches of his young NBA career.

After opening this season as a Heat starter, Jovic established himself as an important part of the Heat’s bench rotation over the last few months. Despite not playing in the second half because of his injury, Sunday still marked the 31st straight game that Jovic logged double-digit minutes in.

Jovic, 21, is averaging career-highs in points (10.7 per game), assists (2.8) and minutes (25.1) this season in his third NBA season. He also brought size to the Heat’s rotation at 6-foot-10 while shooting 37.1 percent on 4.6 three-point attempts per game this season to help space the floor for Miami’s offense.

Without Jovic for the first time since he fractured his shooting hand, the Heat turned to Kyle Anderson to fill most of his minutes in Monday’s 98-86 loss to the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena.

Anderson closed Monday’s defeat with 14 points, five rebounds and two assists in 28 minutes. It marked the most minutes that Anderson has played over his first five appearances with the Heat since he was dealt to Miami as part of the Jimmy Butler trade on Feb. 6.

Among the other options to fill Jovic’s spot in the Heat’s rotation include Haywood Highsmith and Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Bam questionable

Along with missing Jovic for Wednesday’s game against the Hawks at Kaseya Center (7:30 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun), the Heat listed three-time All-Star center Bam Adebayo as questionable because of a right calf contusion.

Adebayo has missed just two games this season — a Jan. 13 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers because of a lower back contusion and a Feb. 13 loss to the Dallas Mavericks because of a left knee contusion.

Adebayo, 27, has averaged 16.9 points, 10 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game in 54 appearances (all starts) this season.

In addition, the Heat listed Kel’el Ware (left ankle discomfort) and Andrew Wiggins (jaw contusion) as probable for Wednesday’s contest.

The Heat ruled out Josh Christopher (G League), Keshad Johnson (G League), Jovic (broken right hand), Dru Smith (Achilles surgery) and Isaiah Stevens (G League).

Fourth-quarter collapses

For much of the past two seasons, the Heat often has made a habit of unraveling during the third quarter.

Now it’s the fourth quarter that is consistently dooming Miami.

The numbers are staggering: Over the past 11 games, Miami has been outscored 313-216 in the fourth quarter. That has included lopsided margins of 39-21 against Chicago, 31-9 against Brooklyn, 32-8 against Oklahoma City and 35-20 against Milwaukee on Sunday. Miami lost all four of those games after squandering double-digit leads.

During that stretch, Miami outscored its opponent in the fourth quarter only once, and that was during extended garbage time of an 18-point loss to Boston.

And there’s this: Since Jan. 1, the Heat has been by far the league’s worst fourth-quarter team in point differential. The Heat has been outscored by 92 points in the fourth quarter since the calendar turned to 2025. Next closest? Brooklyn at minus 64.

Jimmy Butler’s absence – first due to suspensions, and then a trade – is part of the reason, but there are others. Among the biggest factors: Since Jan. 1, the Heat is shooting a league-worst 28.4 percent on three-pointers in the fourth quarter, compared to 40.8 percent for Indiana, 38.3 for Boston and 36.9 percent for Cleveland.

Except for Kel’el Ware, every Heat rotation player has shot worse – usually much worse – from distance in the fourth quarter than they do overall. Since Jan. 1, Duncan Robinson is at 34.4 percent (11 for 32) on fourth quarter three pointers, while Tyler Herro is at 25.5 (13 for 51), Terry Rozier 28.6 (8 for 28), Nikola Jovic 21.9 (7 for 32) and Bam Adebayo 9.1 percent (1 for 11).

That isn’t shocking, considering Miami has been one of the league’s worst three-point shooting teams late in the close games over the past three seasons.

Including all field goal attempts, Alec Burks is Miami’s worst fourth quarter shooter since Jan. 1, at 26.1 percent (6 for 23). Andrew Wiggins is 8 for 23 (34.8 percent) from the field in the fourth quarter since joining the Heat.

Miami also has the fourth most fourth quarter turnovers since Jan. 1 (99, compared with 151 assists). The Heat has the second fewest fourth quarter steals since Jan. 1. Miami is 19th in fourth quarter shooting percentage at 44.3; so it’s three-point shooting specifically, as opposed to overall shooting, that is primarily contributing to Miami’s fourth-quarter demise.

Notably, Jovic – who is now out indefinitely with a hand injury – leads the team in fourth quarter minutes since Jan. 1, with 228, while Rozier – in the midst of perhaps his worst NBA season – has played the second most (180). Butler played only four fourth quarter minutes for Miami since Jan 1.

Aside from Keshad Johnson, Duncan Robinson is the only Heat player with a positive plus/minus in the fourth quarter since Jan. 1, at plus 8. Herro (minus 78), Rozier (minus 68) and Ware (minus 67) have the Heat’s worst fourth quarter plus/minus numbers since Jan. 1.

So it’s no surprise that Miami is 10-16 since Jan. 1 and has slid to ninth in the Eastern Conference.

Herro’s off night

Herro, who has scored 40 points in two of the Heat’s last four games, matched a season-low with 11 points on 4-of-19 shooting from the field and 0-of-9 shooting from three-point range in Monday’s road loss to the Hawks.

Monday was such an outlier game for Herro that it marked just the second time in his NBA career that he has made four or fewer field goals when taking at least 19 shots in a game. He also shot 4 of 19 from the field in a Jan. 24, 2023 game against the Boston Celtics.

Monday also marked the first time in Herro’s NBA career that he has not hit a three-pointer when attempting at least nine shots from behind the arc in a game.