The pain from Thursday's loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers lingers for the Heat.

Miami center Jermaine O'Neal missed Saturday's game against New Jersey with a left hip bruise he sustained during a collision with James midway through Thursday's 111-104 loss to the Cavaliers.

O'Neal finished the game and had 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in 33 minutes.

He received extensive treatment the past two days to help ease the inflammation, and he was held out of Saturday's shootaround.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said two hours before the game that O'Neal had a ``50-50'' chance to play. Reserve Joel Anthony started at center against the Nets.

Spoelstra said O'Neal had made progress but not enough to risk playing Saturday.

``He feels much better than he did [Friday],'' Spoelstra said of O'Neal. ``He felt [then] like he got hit by a train. It's not quite the type of relief and movement we were hoping for.''

O'Neal is day-to-day, with Miami's next game not until Tuesday at home against Oklahoma City.

MAGLOIRE SPINNING

A lack of playing time hasn't stopped center Jamaal Magloire from getting a good burn during the week.

Magloire enrolled in a South Beach spin class last week on the advice of former center Alonzo Mourning, the Heat's vice president of player programs.

Magloire got his first game action of the season Saturday.

``I'm trying to keep fit,'' said Magloire, who lost 10 pounds and cut his body fat by two percent since last season. ``Talking to Alonzo, that's what he told me he used to do to stay fit when he wasn't playing.''

FIGHTING WORDS

To maintain peace in the locker room, Spoelstra and guard Carlos Arroyo didn't talk boxing before Saturday night's fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.

Spoelstra, who is of Filipino decent, is a huge Pacquiao fan.

Arroyo, a Puerto Rican, is friends with fellow countryman Cotto.

``All I told [Spoelstra] was, `I know you've got Pacquiao. Good luck,' '' Arroyo said. ``We'll talk after the fight.

``That's really all I could say.''

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@