Heat won’t have Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside available against Blazers
The Miami Heat will be without Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside when it opens a three-game west coast road trip Monday night in Portland.
The Heat released an injury report early Monday morning that confirmed both players would miss Miami’s game against the Blazers, who have won nine in a row - the league’s longest active streak.
Wade and Whiteside each suffered injuries on Saturday on a day in which the Heat scored its most lopsided victory of the season – 129-102 rout of the Washington Wizards at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Whiteside suffered a strained hip flexor during the team’s pregame shootaround on Saturday morning and will miss his second consecutive game and 21st of the season.
Wade suffered a mild strain of his left hamstring that forced him to exit with 11:18 left in the fourth quarter and not return to the game. He will miss his first game since rejoining the Heat on Feb. 8.
Justise Winslow also banged his knee late in the game, but was not on the injury report.
"I just felt it when I made a move," Wade said after Saturday’s game. "But it feels about the same right now. It feels about what it is unless you tear it or you strain it real bad or you pull it. The strain just felt like a little cramp. The day that happens and the next one you feel if it’s worse or the same so we just have to wait and see."
Wade finished with eight points on 3 of 11 shooting in 14 minutes and 55 seconds, but did not return after leaving the game in the fourth.
Wade’s return has played a huge part in the Heat’s offensive surge over its past 11 games. During that span, the Heat is averaging 113.4 points per game after averaging 100.5 points per game prior to his return to the team.
“I have time to get treatment and try to take it day to day and see when I get back,” Wade said. “Hopefully I’m not out too long. I don’t know how long. I have no timetable right now. All you can do is do your treatment and do your strengthening and whenever you feel like it’s ready to go just get on the floor."
Whiteside said Saturday he tried to play through the pain in his left hip during the shootaround, but it worsened to the point where he had to stop.
"Any time something happens to me, I always ask the same question, ‘If I play, what will happen," Whiteside said. "And they would say, ‘You are going to make it worse.’ Any time I hear that, the doctors are going to tell me to just relax and take it day by day, take it easy."
Whiteside, who dealt with a pair of bone bruises in his left knee that kept him out for a combined 18 games earlier in the season, missed an additional game due to a stomach virus.
Whiteside didn’t speculate on how long it would take to come back from the injury.
"With strains it's pretty tricky," Whiteside said. "They can last a couple of days; they can go away. I definitely don't want to go out there and make it worse and then it's something that's lingering for month."
Both Wade and Whiteside traveled with the team on the road trip that continues Wednesday in Sacramento and Friday in Los Angeles against the Lakers, who play at the fastest pace in the NBA and beat the Heat 131-113 on March 1.
“I’m going to listen to [team trainers],” Whiteside said. “I don’t want to make it worse. Anytime they say you can make an injury worse, I’m going to listen to them.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2018 at 11:46 PM with the headline "Heat won’t have Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside available against Blazers."