It’s been a tough night for the Heat’s star player LeBron James as he was forced to sit and watch his teammates face the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. It would have been harder were he to play, considering the back spasms he has been experiencing.

Prior to this, James had missed two games in the past four months due to injury. The first was the Heat’s 108-107 win over the Portland Trail Blazers in December when he had a groin muscle injury, and the second was their 93-79 victory over the Chicago Bulls when he had a broken nose.

On a positive note, James sitting out Wednesday’s game means he would have two full days of rest before the Heat face the Grizzlies on their home court this Friday. In their game the previous night versus Cleveland, he scored 43 points to take the Heat to victory 100-96. He also finished with four assists, two steals, three blocks, and six rebounds. This season, he has been averaging 27 points, 6.4 assists, 1.6 steals, and 6.9 rebounds per game.

There’s less than a month to go in the league’s regular season, and in light of the coming postseason games, Miami could be ramping up its player sit-out strategy to conserve their energy for the games where they will be needed more.

Aside from James, center Greg Oden also took the night off for precautionary rest. Taking their places were Michael Beasley for James and Udonis Haslem for Oden.

The Miami team is currently in a fierce competition with Indiana for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The Heat are attempting to advance to four consecutive NBA Finals like the 1980s Celtics while also attempting to win three straight championships like the Lakers back in the early 2000s and the Chicago Bulls of the 90s era.

Lebron James Breaks His Nose

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