Hassan Whiteside isn't sure why he played just under 24 minutes in the Miami Heat's one-point loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday.
"I don't know, man," Whiteside said after the game, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel's Ira Winderman. "I think I'm on a minutes restriction or something. I don't really know what's going on right now."
Though he logged a monster 26-point, 22-rebound line over 36:27 in the Heat's season opener, Whiteside missed the team's next five outings with a bone bruise in his knee, which has kept the team's lineup in a state of flux.
If Whiteside is indeed playing under a minutes restriction while he works back to top form, it was either enacted or adjusted prior to the game against Denver; in his first game back from injury, Whiteside played 26:22 against the Chicago Bulls.
It's possible that locale was a factor Friday, as Denver's arena is the highest in terms of altitude above sea level in the league.
Related: It's already time for the Heat to panic
Through eight games, Miami ranks 22nd in offensive rating, scoring 101.5 points per 100 possessions - but has given up 104.3 points per 100 possessions on the defensive end. Of the Heat's three wins to date, two came against the Eastern Conference cellar-dweller Bulls and Atlanta Hawks, with the third against the mid-tier Indiana Pacers.
