Winslow returns from injury
Forward plays 13 minutes after missing 14 games.
MIAMI — Heat forward Justise Winslow returned to the court for the first time in more than a month Sunday afternoon and played a role in Miami’s 97-79 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
The third-year player from Duke, sidelined for 14 games with a strained left knee, played 13 minutes for the Heat, finishing with three points, four rebounds and four assists.
He sank a second-half 3-pointer for his only points of the game, and had three of his four assists after halftime.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra liked what he saw from Winslow, who entered the game for the first time at the start of the second quarter.
“It was great to have him back out there,” Spoelstra said. “He’s a guy that creates a lot of action. When Justise is aggressive on both ends of the court, it’s hard not to notice him.
“He creates something defensively with his physicality and keeping his body in front. When the ball goes up, the game starts for him.”
Winslow said after the game that his knee felt “pretty good” and he was pleased with the way he played following his layoff.
“I actually wasn’t as tired as I thought,” he said. “In the second half, especially, I got in a better rhythm. It felt good to be back out there competing.”
Prior to Sunday’s win, Winslow hadn’t played since a Dec. 13 loss to Portland. The Heat dropped to 13-14 after that game, but have won 12 of 15 since and now are 25-17 and hold the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
Miami’s offense has changed – for the better, Winslow said Sunday – since he injured his knee.
James Johnson, Bam Adebayo and Kelly Olynyk have gotten minutes at power forward during Winslow’s absence, and they combined for 17 points and 15 rebounds Sunday.
Center Hassan Whiteside added 15 points and a gamehigh 10 rebounds.
Winslow said Miami was able to hit its big men early Sunday, and that was key.
“I think the ball is just moving a lot better,” he said.
James Johnson says he learned lesson: Serving his one-game suspension last week against the Indiana Pacers was difficult for James Johnson, but he said there was a silver lining.
“The hotel in Indiana didn’t have the game,” said Johnson, who was ejected from Tuesday’s 90-89 victory against Toronto following an altercation with the Raptors’ Serge Ibaka, and later suspended.
He was not permitted to be in the arena during the Heat’s 114-106 victory over the Pacers on Wednesday.
“So I was box-score watching it,” he added. “It helped a little bit. But obviously, I feel terrible. I have to learn to control myself better in situations like that. Violence is not the key. I’m apologetic to the Miami Heat organization, my teammates and the fans.”
Johnson, who started against the Bucks, said the atmosphere in Toronto was charged, which contributed to the incident with Ibaka.
“It was a great competitive game, a lot of physicality,” he said. “It was almost a playoff atmosphere, and emotions get to running high.
“But like I said, you have to learn how to control that and be mentally stable enough to finish out the game and not get suspended when your team needs you.”
Johnson said he had confidence in his teammates as they took the floor against Indiana on Wednesday.
“One of our sayings on this team is, we have enough,” he said. “Regardless of who’s playing, we always feel like we have a chance to win just with the character of the guys in this locker room.”
Johnson is averaging 10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.