--Two days after being held out of Friday's loss to the Lakers, backup guard Daequan Cook was inactive for Sunday's game against the Kings due to a case of pink eye. Cook said his right eye became inflamed upon Saturday's early-morning arrival in Sacramento and got progressively worse. He said it was the first time he has had the ailment. --Coach Erik Spoelstra said he expects center Jermaine O'Neal back "sometime midweek."
O'Neal left the team Saturday to return to Columbia, S.C., to be with a gravely-ill uncle who was being removed from life support.
The Heat does not play again until Friday at home against Dallas.
--Coach Erik Spoelstra admitted he had a hard time letting go after Kobe Bryant's buzzer-beating, off-balance, game-winning three-pointer Friday at Staples Center.
"As soon as I got on the plane, I told Dan Craig, our video guy who sits right across from me, I said, 'Don't give me my computer. I don't want to look at it. I don't want to talk about it,'" the Heat coach said. "As soon as we were about to take off, I said, 'All right, set it up.' I looked at it, yeah, several times. It was a heck of a play."
--Dwyane Wade downplayed criticism on Friday's ESPN Lakers-Heat telecast that he was not providing maximum effort during the middle stages of that game.
"I watched the game, like I do after every game," he said. "(Commentator) Jeff Van Gundy is a coach. He's nitpicking likes coaches nitpick. Those guys are good at what they do. To me, whenever they're talking about you is always good. So I don't mind. They've said enough good things about me to erase any negative that they could say. So I don't necessarily worry about it."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "This was about as good and as strong as a 2-2 road trip can be. The direction we've moved in, we feel like we've made some good steps." -- Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, after Sunday's victory in Sacramento.
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