MIAMI — The Miami Heat have been able to win before with guard Dwyane Wade out. They'll try to do it again Tuesday night.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the team's shootaround Tuesday morning that Wade won't play in the evening game against the San Antonio Spurs at AmericanAirlines Arena. Wade suffered a sprained right ankle Friday at Denver.
The Heat are 7-2 in the past two seasons without Wade. They went 4-2 last year and are 3-0 this season.
With the Big Three of Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh intact, the Heat lost their past three games.
"We know everybody has to step up," Heat forward LeBron James said of trying to break the streak without Wade.
Speaking after the shootround, James had sniffle and a bit of a cough. He said he has been under the weather following a five-game trip.
"I've felt better," James said. "It was a long road trip, and it got the best of me."
Spoelstra also said that swingman Mike Miller, who has yet to play this season following Nov. 28 sports hernia surgery, could be active against the Spurs. But the coach said he doesn't know whether Miller will play. And Spoelstra said center Eddy Curry, who has been out all season because of a hip flexor, definitely won't play.
Wade also has been bothered by a left foot bruise and a strained calf this season, but Spoelstra said the ankle is the primary concern.
"We'll continue to evaluate him every single day," Spoelstra said of future games involving Wade, who turned 30 Tuesday. "We do not have a timetable on his return."
Spoelstra wouldn't immediately say who would start in Wade's place. In the previous games Wade missed this season, James Jones got the call.
James has been saying since Wade went down that he will need to step up against the Spurs.
"You know you got to pick up the load a little when, for the most part, a 25-point scorer (is) not playing," James said.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at christomasson@hotmail.com or on Twitter @christomasson.
