Category: Miami Heat Blog

The good news out of the Heat’s full-contact practice on Monday was that Mike Miller and Eddy Curry made their long-awaited returns to the court. The bad news was that Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers did not practice.

Wade’s foot injury, more serious than initially believed, is taking time to heal. He is questionable for both Tuesday’s game against Golden State and Wednesday’s game against the Clippers.

“I would love for it to be [Tuesday],’’ Wade said of his return. “I would love for it to be Wednesday. I don’t know. I’m just trying to be smart.

“I wanted to play the other night against New Jersey. If it was up to me, I would have played, but in Miami we make sure we all come together and put our heads together and see what’s the best for the team and for the player.”

Wade, who said his game status is “hour to hour; minute to minute,” is clearly frustrated with his slow progress and the mysterious pain in his left heel. More disconcerting is the root of the problem. Wade couldn’t offer an exact ailment but didn’t rule out plantar fasciitis.

— Reported by Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald

While warming up for Wednesday’s night, Joel Anthony received some surprising news: he’s one of four Heat players on the East All-Star ballot, along with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

“I didn’t think they were serious,” Anthony said.

Anthony’s not a serious candidate, of course, not with Orlando’s Dwight Howard on the ballot.

Yet the panel of four media members needed 12 centers in the guard-heavy Eastern Conference, and chose one from all but three teams – Toronto (with Andrea Bargnani listed as center), Boston (reduced to a broken Jermaine O’Neal) and New Jersey (which just lost Brook Lopez for several weeks).

— Reported by Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post Blog

Heat guard Dwyane Wade has two problems: A sore left foot and a jammed game schedule.

So he decided that taking a game off was his smartest option.

After battling the foot issue for a week with limited success, Wade sat out for the first time this season when Miami played host to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. Wade played both ends of a back-to-back on Sunday and Monday, got extensive treatment on Tuesday, but did not see enough improvement to merit playing against Indiana — especially since Miami starts a five-game road swing at Atlanta on Thursday.

“As much as I want to be out there, my team needs me to be Dwyane Wade and not somebody else on the floor,” Wade said after sitting out Miami’s shootaround Wednesday morning.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Wade turns 30 later this month, and in his ninth pro season nutrition is as important to him as any other part of his regimen. That wasn’t always the case: Even when he was on his way to being MVP of the NBA finals in 2006, Wade could get away with eating just about anything he wanted, chicken fingers and cheeseburgers seeming like staples of his diet.

Not anymore. Farewell, sweets. Hello, salads.

And Wade says changing the way he fuels his body has him feeling as healthy as ever.

“The protein, the drinks, the carbohydrates, I know all the things I need,” Wade said. “The biggest thing is that I’ve talked with a nutritionist, who’s working with the team, who understands what we need, how much we practice, what weight I need to be at, what body fat, this, this and this. Put them together, come up with a master plan and I reap the benefits.”

So are the Heat, who are 5-0 for the first time after polishing off the Charlotte Bobcats 129-90 on Sunday night not long after Wade polished off that pasta-and-fruit dinner. Wade came into the season with a body fat of less than 4 percent, but says he has enough strength and bulk to get through the grind of a condensed 66-game regular season, and credits the culinary changes for that belief.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

Much was made here and elsewhere of the muscle that Chris Bosh added this offseason, especially visible in his upper arms.

And yet, in the second preseason and regular season opener, Bosh hasn’t managed to do much in the low post.

It’s too early to make too much of this, especially since foul trouble limited Bosh’s minutes, and hurt his rhythm, in Dallas. But it bears watching. With Erik Spoelstra tailoring much of the offense to the versatile talents of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, and encouraging them not only to push the pace but also to sometimes set up camp down low, Bosh is the guy who could get left behind.

After Tuesday’s shootaround, Bosh acknowledged that it remained “a feeling out process.”

— Via Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post Blog

The Miami HEAT announced today that they have request waivers on guard Eddie House.

House appeared in 56 games (one start) with the HEAT last season and averaged 6.5 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 17.5 minutes while shooting 39.9 percent from the field, 38.9 percent from three-point range and 95 percent from the foul line. Additionally, he appeared in seven postseason games with Miami and averaged 1.6 points in 6.9 minutes of action while shooting 23.5 percent from the field and 30 percent from three-point range.

The 11-year NBA veteran previously signed with the HEAT on August 3, 2010.