MIAMI (AP) - Dwyane Wade had a brief message for Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on Friday afternoon.
“I’m playing,” Wade said.
Turns out, that was merely wishful thinking.
Wade did not play in Miami’s 88-87 win over Detroit on Friday night, sitting out with a sprained right wrist. It was the second time a malady kept him sidelined in the past week _ he missed Miami’s game against Toronto with a migraine headache last Saturday, then banged the wrist during a loss to the New York Knicks on Thursday night.
He will have an MRI on Saturday, and was held out after getting examined by team physician Dr. Harlan Selesnick about 45 minutes before the game.
Nonetheless, it added another page to a rapidly growing book of Heat health issues these days.
Miami then had a brief scare in the second quarter when LeBron James stumbled to the court _ and caught a knee in the head on the way down, courtesy of teammate Joel Anthony. James also appeared to twist his left ankle on the play, but after taking a 20-second timeout to recover, remained in the game.
Miami also played again Friday without power forward Chris Bosh, whose high left ankle sprain is improving.
Wade went through a walkthrough session Friday afternoon without problems, even having the goggles _ his eyes are still sensitive to light, thanks to the migraine _ that he wore in the game against New York atop his head instead of over his eyes.
The team said Wade’s wrist got stiffer as the game drew closer. The announcement that he would not play was made about 15 minutes before tip-off and apparently caught everyone off-guard. Not only did Miami already have him listed in the starting lineup, but Spoelstra said only that Wade’s wrist was “a little bit sore.”
Wade made 14 of his first 15 shots on Thursday, including 13 straight, the longest run of consecutive makes in his career. He missed his final seven shots.
Wade was not available before Friday’s game for comment. He was named to his seventh All-Star team on Thursday, one of four players to collect over 2 million votes in fan balloting.
There was some promising injury news for the Heat before the game, when Spoelstra did not rule Bosh out for Sunday’s game at Oklahoma City.
Including Friday, Bosh has now missed four games since getting hurt after Chicago’s Omer Asik rolled into his leg in a game at the Bulls on Jan. 15. He was able to take part in what Spoelstra said was “an extensive workout” before the Pistons game.
“We’ve said he’s our crutch,” Spoelstra said. “Our game looks a lot different in terms of ball movement and getting people involved when Chris plays.”
Mike Miller started Friday in Wade’s place. James again started at power forward in Bosh’s absence. Combined, Miller and James _ both of whom were banged up in the game _ played nearly 86 minutes.
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