MIAMI _ The Miami Heat continue with a severely depleted roster that likely will not be significantly bolstered until after the Christmas break.
Coach Erik Spoelstra confirmed in advance of Friday night's game against the Dallas Mavericks at AmericanAirlines Arena that guard Goran Dragic would miss his third consecutive game due to soreness in his left elbow and that forward Justise Winslow would miss his fifth consecutive game with a strained left knee.
"They're making progress." Spoelstra said. "I don't anticipate them playing (Saturday), but we'll see how they feel in the next 24 hours."
In addition, the Heat remained without center Hassan Whiteside for a 12th consecutive game with a bone bruise on his left knee and forward James Johnson for a third consecutive game with ankle bursitis.
Whiteside and Johnson also have been ruled out for Saturday's game against the visiting New Orleans Pelicans, the second half of the rare back-to-back home set for the Heat.
Johnson is not expected back until Tuesday's game against the visiting Orlando Magic at the earliest. Spoelstra declined to offer a timetable on Whiteside, who earlier this season missed five games with a different bone bruise on his left knee.
With forward Rodney McGruder recovering from preseason leg surgery and forward Okaro White from early-season foot surgery, the Heat again find themselves moving forward with nine players.
Spoelstra nonetheless said he was encouraged by the strides being made by his injured players, citing activity on the court Thursday by all of his injured players but White.
"To me that's progress," he said. "That means Hassan was able to get on the court, do a decent amount of work. Rodney was able to get on the court, do some shooting, a little of movement. And J.J. was even able to get on the court. So a big win for us."
Whiteside has been sidelined since Nov. 29.
"He's getting better," Spoelstra said. "Like I said, (Thursday) he was, for the first time, doing basketball-related work with coaches. He was out there about 35 minutes, getting conditioning afterwards. We'll build on that.
"He's definitely trending in the right direction. I was very encouraged by the last week."
Asked if it remained unclear whether the Heat are thinking in terms of days or weeks with Whiteside's return, Spoelstra said, "yeah, but he's definitely going in the right direction, a big step (Thursday). He went through shootaround (Friday), so that was good."
Center Kelly Olynyk said the injuries have required a change of mindset from the ambulatory.
"It's definitely tough, you're short-staffed, you short-manned, you're going to have to play long minutes," he said. "But it's also fun.
"You know what you're getting yourself into. You know what you've got going in and you know that you're going to have to play through some things, whether it's tough stretches or foul trouble or making a couple of mistakes, you're going to have to play through it and they're going to let you play through it, and you don't always get that when there's a full roster."
Among the nine available players are both of the Heat's players under two-way contracts, guard Derrick Walton Jr., who has been receiving rotation minutes amid this spate of injuries, and guard Matt Williams Jr., recalled earlier this week from the developmental-league G League Sioux Falls Skyforce.
