Waiters available, Butler questionable against Rockets
Dion Waiters’ return to the court may be soon.
The Miami Heat guard will be available to play Sunday when the Heat (4-1) faces the Houston Rockets (3-2) at American-Airlines Arena, and it could be the first time he takes the court since his October 19 suspension.
Waiters was suspended for the Heat’s season opener against the Memphis Grizzlies after he’d expressed discontent with his playing time during the preseason. The Heat reinstated Waiters on Tuesday, but he has yet to play in a regular-season game. He did not travel with the Heat to face the Hawks in Atlanta on Thursday due to conditioning.
Waiters, who’s in his fourth season in Miami, has not yet played a full season with the Heat. He played in 46, 30 and 44 games, respectively, in his previous three seasons and started in 28 games last season, averaging 12 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
FACING HOUSTON
Miami will face the league’s top scorer in Houston guard James Harden, who is averaging 36.6 points per game, on Sunday. The Rockets are also the league’s highest-scoring team with 125.6 points, but allow 126.6 points to their opponents.
Though that may bode well for a Heat team that’s sixth in the NBA in scoring with 115.6 points, forward Jimmy Butler said he doesn’t want it to be that type of high-scoring game.
“I want it to be a dog fight,” Butler said after Saturday’s practice. “I don’t want it to be who can score the most points because they got two guys that can score a lot of points. They probably got more buckets on that team than we got, sadly enough. So we gotta get back, we gotta load, contest, not foul, secure the rebound. [We] don’t want to give too many secondchance points. ... We don’t want to play their style of game. We want to stick and play with ours. And that’s what we’re locked into, just to play Miami Heat basketball.”
Heat players said they already know what type of challenge they’ll face in guarding Harden, in addition to Russell Westbrook, who is averaging a tripledouble this season.
“You’re talking about two of the most phenomenal players of our generation,” Butler said. “It’s hard to guard them when any one guy helps. ... you’re gonna have to use all five to guard these two individuals. You know what you’re gonna get from them. You just gotta make everything tough for them. It just makes it so difficult because both of them do so many things well. They can finish around the rim. They can get everybody else involved, shoot the three, get the ball our, fly it up the floor.”
Guard Tyler Herro said he’s expecting to be challenged on Sunday, and he’s expecting Harden and Westbrook to do what they do, which is make it tough on opposing defenses and score plenty of points. But the Heat rookie, who’s averaging 16.4 points and 5.8 rebounds this season, said he’s confident in how coach Erik Spoelstra has prepared the team ahead of the matchup, which has involved putting focus on sticking to the Miami Heat’s identity.
“We’re known for our defense,” Herro said of the Heat, which averages seven blocked shots [second-most in the league] and 9.2 steals per game [third]. “That’s what coach wants us to be known for, so, just being tough inside and not allowing them to be comfortable.”
Butler is listed as questionable for the game with a bruised left foot, but he said he’ll be “just fine” when asked if he expects to play.
INJURY UPDATES
• James Johnson, who hasn’t played this season due to conditioning, is available against the Rockets.
• Justise Winslow (back) is questionable for Sunday’s game. He missed Thursday’s win over the Hawks because of stiffness in his lower back.
• KZ Okpala (achilles) and Derrick Jones Jr. (groin) will not play.