No minutes restriction for D-Wade

Coach Erik Spoelstra won't have a minutes restriction on Dwyane Wade when the Heat begin their title defense on Sunday, even though the All-Star guard hasn't played more than 23 minutes in a game in nearly a month.

Spoelstra said they would be smart about using Wade, who has played in three games after missing nine with a strained hamstring.

"I don't have a restriction with him," Spoelstra said Saturday, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "I'm going to read his body language; I'm going to read the game. I'm going to have communication constantly with him. But he's cleared to play. So neither one of us want to put a restriction on it, but we're also realistic and we'll be smart about it."

For his part, Wade was thankful for the three-day break before the playoffs.

"First of all, the NBA was very generous with our schedule," he said, according to the paper. We felt like playing Wednesday and not playing until Sunday, I mean that's a long break around here from how our schedule's been the last two months of the season."