Charlotte Bobcats’ Al Jefferson, who has been so effective against Miami Heat, aggravates foot injury
Jason Lieser, The Palm Beach Post
Any chance the Bobcats have of pushing their first-round series with Miami past four games will take a huge hit if they are missing center Al Jefferson. \n In addition to falling 99-88 in Game 1 at Am…
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Palm Beach Post
Any chance the Bobcats have of pushing their first-round series with Miami past four games will take a huge hit if they are missing center Al Jefferson.

In addition to falling 99-88 in Game 1 at AmericanAirlines Arena on Sunday, Charlotte might have to reconfigure its offense after Jefferson aggravated the plantar fasciitis he has been suffering in his left foot. Bobcats coach Steve Clifford labeled him “day-to-day” with Game 2 scheduled Wednesday.

Jefferson needed two injections to stay in the game and said he could not feel his foot in the second half. He withstood the injury to score 18 points and get 10 rebounds in 35 minutes.

“He ripped something, so there’s a lot of soreness,” Clifford said. “Obviously he wasn’t close to himself. When those things are painful, it’s gonna be a problem.

“Without him, we’re different. We don’t have a post-up game and we’re much more reliant on pick-and-rolls. I would say, offensively, I don’t know if there’s another team in the league that’s more dependent on one guy than we are on him.”

That is especially true against Miami. The only Heat player who matches Jefferson’s 6-foot-10, 289-pound build is Greg Oden, who is not currently part of the rotation and would likely have trouble keeping up with Jefferson’s mid-range game. The other viable options — Chris Bosh, Chris Andersen and Udonis Haslem — are at least 44 pounds lighter than Jefferson.

He showed his worth in the opening minutes by making his first four shots before heading to the locker room late in the first quarter. He was hobbled when he returned and made 5-of-13 the rest of the game.

“We wanted to go at him a lot and challenge him and see just where he was pain-wise and if he could continue,” Bosh said. “He was still effective.”

Jefferson averaged 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds this season. In three regular-season games against the Heat, he averaged 25.3 points and 15.3 rebounds. In their March 3 meeting, when LeBron James scored a career-high 61 points, Jefferson quietly muscled his way to 38 points and 19 rebounds.

Jefferson was confident he would stay in the series — “I don’t know all the details, but I’ll be OK,” he said — but he probably will be limited at best. That could prompt the Bobcats to attack Miami with outside shooting and pick-and-rolls.

Kemba Walker led Charlotte with 20 points Sunday and was second on the team at 17.7 points per game in the regular season. Fellow guard Gerald Henderson averaged 14 per game, but had six points on 3-for-9 shooting in Game 1.

Outside of Jefferson, the Bobcats shot 43.5 percent from the field. That figure includes 8-for-21 on 3-pointers and 14-of-37 on anything outside the paint.

“Man, it really doesn’t change much,” Haslem said. “We can play pick-and-roll defense and we can play post defense. We’ll make our adjustments.”