MIAMI _ For all the strides Hassan Whiteside has made in his two-plus seasons with the Miami Heat, the most significant might have been when he strode to center court for the opening tip Thursday against the Toronto Raptors.
In playing with a right hand that was heavily bandaged, including two fingers taped together, to protect a 13-stitch laceration sustained a game earlier, Whiteside won over his teammates, even as the Heat fell to 3-3 in their last six games with the 101-84 loss.
"That shows how far he's come, how he's matured," guard Josh Richardson said. "He's our best player. For him to come out and play with a cut hand, it gives everybody that much more confidence."
It is why Whiteside's latest injury, a sprained left ankle sustained in the closing minutes against the Raptors, already is being downplayed as the Heat prepare for Sunday's game against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
"That was very inspiring just to see him out there battling," said coach Erik Spoelstra, who gave his team Friday off. "Most nights a player would not play.
"The guys even acknowledged it in the locker room."
Whiteside closed the loss with 16 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots. And of any thoughts of opponents resorting to hack-a-hand, he shot 4 of 5 from the foul line.
"I want this," he said of being part of the Heat's playoff push. "I don't want to look back and say, 'I wish I would've played and we would've been in the playoffs.'
"I'm going to give what I can give. I lost a couple of rebounds that I normally would've grabbed."
With 50 double-doubles, Whiteside is three shy of Rony Seikaly's franchise single-season record set in 1991-92. He also has at least one blocked shot in 28 consecutive games, one shy of his career-best streak.
