MIAMI (AP) - The ailing Miami Heat may not stay that way much longer.
Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were both on the team flight to Oklahoma City, a sign that both may be in the lineup when the Heat visit the Thunder on Sunday afternoon. An MRI exam on Wade’s sore right wrist Saturday morning showed no structural damage, and Bosh’s sprained left ankle has improved in recent days.
Neither played in Miami’s 88-87 win over Detroit on Friday night. Bosh has been sidelined since Jan. 15.
“The injury bug has struck our team,” Heat forward LeBron James said after Friday’s victory. “I think that everyone is playing with some injuries. You hate for it to happen.”
True, though Saturday’s developments were positive signs.
Wade was ruled out of Friday’s game about 45 minutes before tip-off, after team physician Dr. Harlan Selesnick advised the team that the 2006 NBA finals MVP should have an MRI. It was a precautionary measure and the team was relieved Saturday when Wade was listed as day to day.
He also has been bothered by effects of a migraine for the past week.
He had an ice pack strapped to his wrist after the Detroit game in the Heat training room, which was a popular hangout for his teammates Friday night. James rolled his left ankle during the game, then took an inadvertent knee in the head from teammate Joel Anthony in a scary sequence seconds later.
Mike Miller appeared to bang his right kneecap while attempting to take a charge late in the first half Friday, though like James, he remained in the game. Eddie House _ who hit the deciding free throws with 6.5 seconds left _ played despite feeling some effects of a sprained ankle, and Miami expects to be without Udonis Haslem for several more weeks as he recovers from foot surgery.
“Health is No. 1,” James said. “We know we have to be healthy.”
Bosh went through a workout Friday, and that he was permitted to travel for a one-game trip is a positive for the Heat. Typically, the team does not have injured players fly for one-game trips, so they can continue rehabbing and getting treatment in Miami.
Bosh was not with the team for its one-day trip for Thursday’s game in New York.
“He’s making more progress,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Friday.
Miami has lost five of its last seven games, though it entered Saturday atop the Southeast Division and tied with Chicago for the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference, three games behind the Boston Celtics.
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