ATLANTA — Dwyane Wade was held out of his second game in a row with lingering knee soreness on Sunday, and could also miss Monday’s game against the Celtics at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Looking visibly frustrated with having to miss another game, Wade reported he was a late scratch less than an hour before tipoff at Philips Arena. Wade missed the Heat’s game against the Bobcats on Friday after scoring just eight points in consecutive games against Washington and Philadelphia.
Midway through the season, Wade is still struggling with the same problems he faced in November. His knees haven't' fully recovered from the shockwave treatement he received over the offseason.
“It’s just a little soreness in my knee,” Wade said. “So, I just want to take another day, hopefully, and it feels better [Monday]. If not, then we’ll revaluate it later.”
Wade has missed 11 games this season, which reached its midpoint on Sunday. Asked if the Heat was in an ideal position at the season’s halfway point, Wade said, “I don’t know.”
“We had a challenge that was just presented to us in winning three in a row and we’ll see how we respond to it as we go into next week with our home stand,” Wade said. “I think we’ll see then, but right now it’s hard.”
Ray Allen started for Wade for the second straight game. Allen has had his own struggles, shooting 22.2 percent from the field and 11.8 percent from three-point range in January after Friday’s game against the Bobcats, but had four three-pointers in the first half against the Hawks.
The Heat has used 12 different starting lineups this season with the most used starting lineup of Wade, Mario Chalmers, LeBron James, Shane Battier and Chris Bosh featuring in just 16 games. Twelve players have started at least one game.
“It’s always difficult when you don’t have everyone available every night, but most of the league deals with that,” Wade said. “I think our team has done a good job with the adversity that we’ve faced with the injuries and guys in and out. The best thing is we haven’t lost a guy for the year yet.
“We’ve had guys who have been out, but they’ve been able to come back. We’re blessed with that, we knock on wood, and we say if this is the worst we have to go through, then we’re fine. So, we’re going to continue to try whoever is in the lineup. We have the team and we have the personnel that can win on any given night.”
Despite the piecemeal lineups, the Heat had a chance to tie its second-best record at the midway point of a season against the Hawks. The best winning percentage at this point in a season for the Heat came in the lockout-shortened season of 2011-12 when the team began 26-7 (.788 winning percentage).
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