Whiteside: Knee injury is 'really bothering me'

The Miami Heat were without Hassan Whiteside in Wednesday night's contest against the New York Knicks, and the team fears he may miss more time.

A day after Miami was beat down by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Whiteside was concerned about the severity of his lingering knee injury.

"It's really bothering me, man," he said Wednesday, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel. "We're going to figure it out. We're going to figure it out when we get back to Miami and figure out what's wrong."

After playing in the season opener against the Orlando Magic, Whiteside missed the next five games with a bone bruise on his left knee.

"It has really been bothering me throughout the season. It had been bothering me since Orlando."

Through the season's first 20 games, Whiteside has struggled to stay on the floor, playing six minutes per game less than last season.

"It's the same thing he's been dealing with the last three weeks," head coach Erik Spoelstra said, according to Winderman. "Since he's been back, the days in between have been recovery days."

Despite Whiteside's concerns, it appears Spoelstra and the medical staff believe the slow recovery is simply due to a lack of rest.

"This is part of the process," the coach said. "We anticipated this. It hasn't gotten any worse, necessarily, just the schedule hasn't let up and he really hasn't been able to do two days of work in a row for a while."

Whiteside is averaging 14.9 points and 12.7 rebounds in 15 games so far this season.