When Hassan Whiteside woke up Monday morning something didn't feel right with his left knee. It was sore and he was concerned.
But an MRI has apparently eased his concerns, coach Erik Spoelstra said, and the Heat's starting center is going to warm up with the intention to play Monday night against the Celtics.
"Everything was totally clear," Spoelstra said of Whiteside's MRI. "I think that cleared his mind. He feels much better about it now."
Whiteside, the league's leading rebounder and No. 2 shot blocker, has played in all 16 games for Miami (5-11) thus far. He said the discomfort in the knee was relatively new, but did miss one practice near the end of September because of soreness in his left knee while the team was working out in the Bahamas.
Last year in the playoffs, Whiteside injured his right knee.
The Heat, which previously announced starting small forward Justise Winslow (sore left wrist) will miss his eighth consecutive game Monday, won't have starting shooting guard Dion Waiters or its leading scorer off the bench in Tyler Johnson available versus the Celtics.
It's the first time either player will miss a game this season. Waiters, coming off a season-high 28-point performance in Saturday's loss to Memphis, has been dealing with a sore groin and back and will miss Monday's game with a hip flexor, Spoelstra said.
"It just wasn't getting better at all and the back-to-back [games on Friday and Saturday] definitely didn't make it any better," Spoelstra said of Waiters. "And it's not going to get better and you really risk it getting worse. Those things are tricky. Anywhere in the hip flexor or groin area, that gets worse and he can put you out an extended period of time."
Johnson, who is among the league's leading scorers off the bench with 12.6 points per game, is recovering from oral surgery after losing a tooth in Wednesday's blowout loss at Detroit. Johnson isn't expected to be out very long.
Winslow, though, still has yet to practice, and the Heat isn't sure when he will be back.
"We didn't necessarily know [he would be out this long], but it's in a tough area," Spoelstra said when asked if the length of time Winslow has missed has surprised team officials. "And playing through it was aggravating it. It definitely was not getting better. So he's been able to take care of that with rest. It's still not where he wants it to be. But some areas take a little bit longer. The wrist, there are a lot of moving parts to that."
The good news for the Heat: guard Wayne Ellington and center Willie Reed will play "some minutes" Monday. Ellington, whom Spoelstra estimated would play about 15 minutes, has been out with a bruised right thigh since the final game of the preseason. Reed has missed Miami's past four games with a hyperextended right knee.
Point guard Goran Dragic, who missed back-to-back games with an elbow injury, will play versus the Celtics, Spoelstra said about an hour before tip-off.
"He's one of our best attackers," Spoelstra said of Dragic. "[He has the] ability to break the defense down and oftentimes create something out of nothing. All of the games he hasn't played, our paint numbers are down. Justise adds to that, too. For a while there, we were No. 1 in layups attempted and top five in points in the paint. Since those guys have been injured, those numbers have decreased a little bit. But it's just great having him back."
Entering Monday's game, the Heat has had seven players miss a combined 59 games because of injuries season. Chris Bosh and Ellington lead the pack with 16 each with Winslow (7), Josh McRoberts (7), Dragic (5), Josh Richardson (4) and Reed (4) behind them.
