Wade will play for Heat
Heat guard Dwyane Wade worked up a sweat on the parquet and returned to the locker room moments ago. He did appear to be limping on his way to the locker room despite a right hamstring injury that made his status for tonight’s game questionable.
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said Wade will give it a go tonight against the Celtics but added, “My idea is not to play him 40 minutes.”
Wade’s presence gives the Heat the lineup fans have been drooling over all summer. Spoelstra said he is trying to keep Miami’s system as simple as possible right now, limiting the amount of different rotations his team uses and sets his team runs.
“Our play calls, I’ve really scaled back in the last week,” said Spoelstra. “Hopefully it will help develop that continuity until we spend more time together. But it’s a very competitive group.”
Asked if his team could get away with running only a few sets, Spoelstra said, “Hopefully.”
Tonight’s game, of course, counts only once in the standings, but the novelty of seeing the Heat against the defending Eastern Conference champs should make for an entertaining evening.
“We’re not hopefully going to be playing our best basketball tonight,” said Spoelstra. “We’re going to continue to get better and learn our system.”
On the hype, Spoelstra said, “We’re not running away from it. I’m not, either.”
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