Waiters hopes he’ll return this season

Sprained ankle is being treated daily, coach Spoelstra says.

MIAMI — Dion Waiters was scared when he crumpled to the ground during the second quarter of Miami’s win Friday against Minnesota.

“Hone s t l y, I t h o u g h t i t was way worse than it was,” said Waiters, who is walking with the help of crutches. “I thought it could have been a f r a c t u r e o r s o met h i n g . (Thanks) to the Man above, it wasn’t that. But it was a bad sprain.”

Speaking to the media for the fifirst time since rolling his left ankle, Waiters now hopes to return by the end of the regular season. Miami had won 23 of 28 entering Sunday night’s game against Portland.

“We just got to keep working on it and hopefully this thing keeps improving every day,” Waiters said. “I’m a young 25, so my bones should heal kind of fast. Just got to keep working on it, keep having the faith.

“Hopefully, man, I wake up and this thing is gone.”

The focus of the treatment now is to reduce the swelling. The Heat have not put a timetable on his return.

Coach Erik Spoelstra said the team is not concerned the injury is anything more than a sprained ankle. X-rays taken after the game were negative and Spoelstra said Sunday there were no plans for an MRI.

“We continue to re-evaluate him,” Spoelstra said. “It’s a sprained ankle. We’ll continue to treat him every single day and hopefully it will heal fast.”

Waiters, who missed 20 games because of a torn muscle in his groin area and three games after spraining the same ankle in early February, clearly was dejected about have to miss time during the crucial fifinal month.

It sucks, it’s frustrating,” he said, adding this sprain is worse than the previous one. “But we just got to continue to keep moving in the right direction. Just take it day-byday. I believe in my guys. I know they’re going to hold the fort down for me.

I t sucks not being out there, especially the rhythm and everything we were in, I was in. Minor setback for a major comeback. You got to stay positive.”

Waiters is third on the Heat with 15.8 points per game and second with 4.3 assists. He has been a major reason for the Heat’s turnaround, averaging 18.9 points and 4.9 assists during the streak entering Friday.

Family Festival raises $554,245: The Heat’s Family Festival was held Saturday outside AmericanAirlines Arena, an annual event in its 20th year that benefifits the team’s charities.

A check of $554,245 was presented to the Miami Heat Charitable Fund before players were introduced and then mingled with the fans. The Family Festival has raised more than $10 million the last the 20 years.

“It’s incredible,” Spoelstra said. “Being here for the very fifirst one and we saw how small it was, but the vision the Arisons and the Rileys had for this, I think it surpassed it.”

Heat owner Micky Arison was among those enjoying the festivities. President Pat Riley could not make it, as scouting duties at the NCAA Tournament prevented him from attending.

“It’s great to be able to celebrate and interact with our fans all day long,” Spoelstra said.

Players dressed up at various photo booths and helped set a record for most selfifies taken in a day.