Heat's Hassan Whiteside concerned about knee problem: 'It's really bothering me'

Whiteside suffered a bone bruise on opening night, and has missed six games throughout the season

Hassan Whiteside did not play in the Miami Heat's 19-point loss to the New York Knicks on Wednesday night, and it may not be the last game the big man misses.

Whiteside suffered a bone bruise in his left knee on opening night against the Orlando Magic, and missed the next five games. But while he's since returned to the lineup, the issue has not gone away, at times forcing him to miss practice. Finally, on Wednesday, it once again forced him to miss a game.

Afterwards, Whiteside sounded concerned about the injury, saying of his knee, "it's really bothering me." Via the Sun Sentinel:

"It's really bothering me, man," Whiteside said at his locker at Madison Square Garden. "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."

"It has really been bothering me throughout the season. It had been bothering me since Orlando," the shot-blocking big man said.

Whiteside he said he was not given a timetable after the initial injury about when the pain would fully subside.

"Nah, there wasn't a time on it," he said. "You know, I sat out, I missed them games, I came back, and it's still bothering me."

Asked if the pain was worse while running, jumping or absorbing contact, Whiteside said, "Everything, man, everything."

This, of course, is concerning, as Whiteside's injury doesn't seem to be getting any better. But what's making this issue an odd one, is the fact that Whiteside seems to be more worried about his knee than head coach Erik Spoelstra. 

"So this is just part of the process. We anticipated this," Spoelstra said. "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."

Whatever the seriousness of Whiteside's injury, it doesn't really seem like the player and the organization are on the same page here. Currently on a two-game losing streak, the Heat have dropped to 10-11 on the season, and now sit outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. 

Their next game is on Friday night against the Charlotte Hornets, but at this point it's unclear if Whiteside will be in the lineup.