Whiteside ruled out for Celtics game

Center practices for first time since being sidelined left knee injury

MIAMI — Hassan Whiteside was back in public view Friday at AmericanAirlines Arena, but there will be at least a fourth consecutive absence until he is back on the court for the Miami Heat.

Despite a workout session on the team’s practice court with assistant coach Juwan Howard, Whiteside has been ruled out by coach Erik Spoelstra for Saturday’s game against the visiting Boston Celtics.

“He won’t play,” Spoelstra said. “He was able to do some conditioning. He’s starting to feel better.”

Whiteside has been sidelined with a bone bruise on his left knee since going for 26 points and 22 rebounds in the Oct. 18 season-opening loss to the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center, with the Heat 2-1 since. Whiteside was not made available for comment Friday, but the Heat have struggled defensively in his absence, in the wake of an uneven defensive performance when he was in the lineup in Orlando.

“We have to be better,” Spoelstra said, “as a collective group, no question about it — our overall commitment

to the doing the tough things, the small things that are needed defensively to defend in this modern NBA.

“We have to be so much more committed to that. Our guys understand that, with or without Hassan. Even when we had him in game one, we weren’t defending how we want to.”

Just to see Whiteside back on the practice court and then reviewing video with Howard was encouraging to teammates.

“He’s definitely a tough person to emulate,” power forward Kelly Olynyk said. “You can’t really emulate his size and length under the basket, rolling and stuff. We’ve just got to play together. We’ve got to be on a string defensively, helping each other, communicating and talking.”

While Whiteside has been the lone rotation player to miss time due to injury over the first four games (other than forward Rodney McGruder, who could be out for the season following leg surgery), continuity throughout the rotation has been an evolving process.

After playing 29 minutes in Monday’s victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks, Olynyk played just 12 in Wednesday’s loss to the visiting San Antonio Spurs. Guard Wayne Ellington, who played 25 minutes against the Hawks, played just 6:18 against the Spurs.

“These games are moving fast, teams are going to different lineups,” Spoelstra said. “We adjusted and it didn’t work out.”

Ellington said he appreciated Spoelstra working with so many moving pieces.

“Of course you want to be out there and you feel like you can help your team and contribute,” Ellington said, “especially when you’re feeling good and in a groove and a rhythm. But, at the same time, man, I’m a team-first guy. I’ve been in all different situations in my professional career.”

Spoelstra said Olynyk’s minutes were short against the Spurs because of San Antonio’s evolving rotations.

“The game went small, then it went bigger, then it went smaller,” he said. “So when it went smaller, there was less of a need to come back with a big center.”

Then there is power forward Jordan Mickey, who was held out of the first game, started at center in the victories against the Indiana Pacers and Hawks, and then again was held out against the Spurs.

“It has nothing to do with how Jordan was playing,” Spoelstra said. “It might continue to be a game-to-game thing, based on who we’re playing.”

Mickey, who, like Olynyk, joined the Heat as a free agent from the Celtics in the offseason, said he appreciated Spoelstra adjusting to newcomers.

“It’s nothing I didn’t expect,” he said. “I’m coming to a new team who had guys that are pretty established. I just wanted to come in and play a role and try to get some minutes and try to help the team any way I could.”

“Even when we had [Whiteside] in game one, we weren’t defending how we want to.” Erik Spoelstra, Heat coach

Whiteside