Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition

Waiters hopes to return before the end of the regular season.

- By Ira Winderman Staff writer iwinderman@ sunsentine­l.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbea­t

MIAMI — Acknowledg­ing that his injury is more severe than the last time a sprained left ankle kept him out for three games in February, Miami Heat guard Dion Waiters said Sunday his goal is to make it back by the April 12 end of the regular season.

Waiters said he thought he suffered a fracture when he sprained his left ankle in the second quarter of Friday’s victory over the Minnesota Timberwolv­es.

“Honestly,” he said before Sunday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers at American-Airlines Arena. “I thought it was way worse than it was. I thought it would have been like a fracture or something. I thank the Man Above that it wasn’t that, but it was a bad sprain.”

Worse, he said, than the last time he was listed with the same injury.

“This one’s a little worse,” he said. “You know, we’ve just got to keep moving in the right direction, take it day by day. I believe in my guys. I know they’re going to hold the fort down for me, man.”

Josh Richardson started Sunday in place of Waiters.

“The most important is just trying to get the swelling out right now and go from there,” Waiters said. “I’m just trying to get the swelling out.”

This is the third injury of significan­ce for Waiters since joining the Heat in the offseason as a free agent. He missed 20 consecutiv­e games over the first half of the season with a groin tear.

“Especially the rhythm and everything we were in and I was in, [it’s] a minor setback for me to come back,” he said.

Of making it back before the end of the regular season, he said, “That’s the goal. We’ve just got to keep working on it and hope this thing keeps improving every day. I’m young, 25, so my bones should heal kind of fast. Just got to keep working on just having faith and hopefully I wake up and this thing is gone.”

He said he is unable to put weight on the ankle.

“I’m just trying to get it out, the swelling,” he said. “There’s a lot of swelling. ...”

Winslow watches

Ruled out for the season in January following shoulder surgery, forward Justise Winslow has resumed sitting on the bench at home games, with more of a presence on the practice court, as well.

“I think it’s been better already the last couple of weeks,” Spoelstra said, “just because he’s been able to be out on the court with the guys. Even though he’s not doing anything other than his rehab work, he can do little bit of free-throw work and some light, onehand shooting.

“It’s being around the guys, now that he’s even been cleared to sit out there during the games. I think that just helps him stay engaged . ... ”

Employee honored

The Heat on Sunday, during their Homestrong presentati­on, honored former U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Kenneth

L. Lewis, a member of the Heat’s security detail since 2010.

Lewis has served as Security Forces Manager for the Desert Defender Ground Combat Readiness Center at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. He was part of an Air Force Special Operations Cross-Cultural Communicat­ions Course at Hurlburt Field in the Florida Panhandle, where the Heat trained when LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined the team in the 2010 offseason.

 ?? MICHAEL LAUGHLIN/SUN SENTINEL ?? Dion Waiters thought he had broken his ankle when he suffered the sprain on Friday night.
MICHAEL LAUGHLIN/SUN SENTINEL Dion Waiters thought he had broken his ankle when he suffered the sprain on Friday night.

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