The veteran small forward had started the season's first 11 games, before landing awkwardly during the third quarter of a Nov. 18 loss in Atlanta.

James Jones had started in place of Richardson, with the Heat 2-3 in those games. The Heat went 7-4 with Richardson starting the first 11 games.

"We'll try to get back to the rotation we had," coach Erik Spoelstra said.

--Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who said he tries to watch Dwyane Wade as often as possible, out of respect to his fellow Marquette alum, scoffed at the notion that the league has found a way to slow the Heat guard. Rivers' comments came in the wake of an uneven shooting stretch by the Heat guard.

"There's no way to guard Dwyane," he said. "The bottom line with great players is you hope they miss shots. He's getting the shots that he wants and he's human, just like everyone else. Clearly every night your defensive plan is to stop him and try to keep him out of the paint.

"Him and LeBron, I would guess those two are the most difficult players to keep out of the paint in the league, at the guard positions."

--For as productive as Mario Chalmers has recently been in the scoring column, Spoelstra said he would like to see even more activity from his point guard.

"I want him to be aggressive," Spoelstra said. "Every one of his pick and rolls, I want those to be live. Any time he can turn the corner and make a play for us, that's going to help us at the back end of our offense."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Some of the best plays Michael made were when he had patience. It shows you how far he's come. He was terrific tonight." -- Coach Erik Spoelstra, on Michael Beasley consistently working his way to the foul line his in 27-point performance in Portland.