--F Shawn Marion missed Sunday's game against Dallas after aggravating a back injury. Marion, who missed Friday's game against Orlando with back problems, apparently backed into a pole at his garage Saturday night and worsened the back problem. Coach Pat Riley said Marion might have an exploratory MRI sometime soon.
--G Daequan Cook had been fighting a nasty little cycle. He needs more minutes to develop offensive consistency, but foul trouble keeps him from getting those minutes. "It's hard to get any rhythm and get a game going when you're limited by foul trouble and (a lack of) minutes," Heat assistant coach Ron Rothstein said. "But he's 20 years old. That's what happens."
Cook, who was in high school at this time two years ago and only played one season at Ohio State, said fatigue has been a factor.
"Actually I was talking to (Heat guard) Chris Quinn in practice about how I've gone through a whole high school and college season put together and still have like 23, 24 (actually 17) games left," he said.
--Coach Pat Riley said he wants his veterans to play hard and give the youngsters a fair shot at excelling.
"Sometimes at the end of the season some of your veterans won't play as hard in these games because they don't count and your rookies are playing like hell, or your young people are playing hard, and it really doesn't help them, versus during in the regular season (when) you have your starters always wanting support from the bench," Riley said. "Now it works the other way."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "He played very well against Dwight Howard the other night. I'd like to see another game like that." -- Coach Pat Riley on rookie C Joel Anthony, an undrafted player from Nevada-Las Vegas.
