Resting players will be priority for Miami Heat for remaining games - MiamiHerald.com

By Andre C. Fernandez The Miami Herald

A night after LeBron James saved the Heat from apparent defeat in New Jersey, the Heat returned home for a four-game homestand during which it will likely wrap up its playoff seeding.

The Heat can clinch the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a victory Wednesday night against Toronto at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The Heat (43-17) also got some help Monday in its faint hopes of catching the Chicago Bulls for the conference’s top seed. Miami trails the Bulls (46-15) by 2½ games with six games left to play. Chicago has five games left.

Following the game against the Raptors, the Heat plays Chicago on Thursday night in the final regular-season meeting between the two teams. Chicago leads the season series 2-1.

But expect the Heat to continue to be cautious about how much it plays some of its key players over the next nine days.

“We’re still staying on course, but we have some people on maintenance programs, and we’ll continue to evaluate everyone every day,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ll treat each day differently.”

Dwyane Wade got another game off Monday to rest his ankle and avoid any more wear and tear on his body.

The Heat trailed the Nets until James came to the rescue and put Miami ahead with 51 seconds left. The victories against the Knicks and Nets were Miami’s first back-to-back road wins since it won five in a row from Feb. 10-17.

“We know no matter where we’re playing, whether it’s in Miami or on the road, we’re going to get a team’s best, that’s why it’s a 48-minute game,” said James, who led the Heat to its 12th victory in 13 games without Wade.

“We’re just going to keep plugging away until we take the lead.”

The Heat is in a stretch of eight games in 11 days, which includes four sets of games on back-to-back days. The recent trend has been to rest Wade during one of those games. Wade has been held out in four games the past two weeks, and other players have sat out with nagging injuries.

James has been durable for the Heat, missing only one game this season. Monday’s clutch 37-point performance that included the Heat’s final 17 points against the Nets was the 10th consecutive game that James led the Heat in scoring.

And he delivered the kind of late-game performances the Heat will need from him in the upcoming postseason whether or not Wade is on the court.

“These kinds of wins are key for us to continue to get better,” James said. “We want to get better every night. We did [Monday] as well, even though the Nets played extremely well.”

Playing time

Rookies will likely get more opportunities like Terrel Harris did against the Nets.

In his first career start, Harris played 23 minutes at the shooting guard spot and finished with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting, two assists and one turnover.

Norris Cole has struggled to recapture his early season form. Cole played several minutes in the fourth quarter Monday and finished with nine points.

Guest broadcaster

Heat announcers Eric Reid and Tony Fiorentino will have a special guest in the broadcast booth Wednesday night.

Tyler Gutzmer, a Miami resident currently suffering from leukemia, will get a chance to call the game with Reid and Fiorentino during the second quarter and work with the Heat’s Jason Jackson during the pregame, halftime and postgame segments. He will also get to go to the production truck and sit along the baseline during the other parts of the game.

Make-A-Wish Southern Florida organized the opportunity with the Heat for Gutzmer, 15, who will arrive at AmericanAirlines Arena for his broadcast debut via a chauffeur-driven limousine and immediately join the Heat’s announcing team to prepare for the game. His family will be in attendance as well.