WASHINGTON (AP) -Injured starters Shaquille O’Neal and Jason Williams did not travel with the Miami Heat to their game against the Washington Wizards on Saturday night.
After playing in each of Miami’s first 29 games, O’Neal missed a second consecutive contest. He is sidelined by sore hips and a sore thigh. Williams, who like O’Neal sat out Friday’s overtime loss to the Orlando Magic, has left knee tendinitis.
Also not making the trip with the Heat: guards Chris Quinn (left ankle) and Smush Parker, who hasn’t played in a month after a confrontation with a female valet parking attendant.
Asked for an update on the missing players, coach Pat Riley said: “They’re all alive and breathing.”
Riley also said he expected star guard Dwyane Wade to show the effects of playing 51 1/2 minutes Friday.
“Today he’s like Secretariat. He’s, like, sore. And that you’re going to have to deal with. So we’ve been rubbing him all day, brushing him down,” Riley said with a laugh.
“He’s going to be sore tonight. We’ve just got to get him loose, and we’ve got to be conscious of it. I think he’s going to go through that for probably most of the year, until his body just totally comes back. His shoulder and his knee – and the fact that he didn’t play for nine months.”
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