With nine seconds remaining in the Heat’s game against the Bulls last week, Udonis Haslem was all that stood between Derrick Rose and the potential game-tying basket.

Rose used a pick to squeeze by LeBron James at the top of the key and then blew past Chris Bosh to get into the lane, where he met Haslem. Positioned at the edge of the restricted area, Haslem stepped up to meet Rose a few feet inside the free-throw line. Rose lowered his head and knocked Haslem to the ground, but no charge was called. Still, the collision threw Rose off balance, and after pivoting his right foot three times, Rose put up a short floater. The shot clanked off the front of the rim, giving the Heat its biggest win of the season.

The play epitomizes Haslem’s value — hard to measure but impossible to ignore.

“You’ve got to have a glue guy; you’ve got to have a tough guy on every team, a warrior,” James said. “[Haslem] is that. Whatever you need from him, he’s going to do it. He’ll take a charge or get a rebound or make a key shot. Whatever the case may be, he’s there for it, and he can do it.”

Different summer

Haslem is coming off the shortest season of his career, a year in which he missed five months after tearing a ligament in his left foot. He returned during the Eastern Conference finals against Chicago, but he was far from healthy. If it’s any indication of Haslem’s condition during the playoffs, after Miami lost to Dallas in the Finals, Haslem was limited to stationary shooting for the entire summer. No running, jumping or defensive drills. Late in the summer, Haslem had a procedure in which a screw was removed from his ankle.

“I never went a whole summer without putting in extended minutes on the court,” Haslem said. “This summer was a lot different as far as just trying to get healthy and heal my body.”

This year the effects of Haslem’s injury and his recovery are noticeable in his reduced scoring, as he is shooting less than he ever has and is averaging a career-low 40.5 percent from the field.

Haslem’s offensive production has come in spurts. Lately, he has played a crucial role in the Heat’s “Big 5” lineup, a set coach Erik Spoelstra has used to close out Miami’s past two games against Philadelphia and Toronto. In a combined nine minutes playing alongside James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Mike Miller, Haslem tallied eight points and one rebound.

“A guy like [Haslem], no matter if he’s 0 for 12, you still want him on the floor,” Wade said. “You know he’s going to bring more to the game than just one dimension.”

Haslem is validating his reputation with one of the most productive defensive seasons of his career. He has taken 17 charges, tying him for fourth in the NBA. He also boasts a 26.2 percent defensive rebound mark, a measure of the number of available defensive rebounds a player pulls down while on the court. That’s the best of Haslem’s career, tops on the Heat and 13th in the league among players who have played in 10 or more games.

Anticipation

“It’s not just the toughness, which [Haslem] has, he’s willing to put himself in harm’s way for this team in so many different ways,” Spoelstra said. “Screens and charges and block outs, you have to have a defensive understanding and anticipation and be early in those situations. He has that.”