Dwyane Wade acknowledged before Wednesday's Game 1 against the Indiana Pacers that his left knee injury is more painful than it was last season.

This season's injury is a bone bruise while last year's involved the cartilage, which required surgery in the offseason.

"It’s unfortunate I’ve had to deal with this thing for two months now," Wade said. "When I feel great, I’m going to attack. When I don’t, I know how to be a team player and give of myself for other guys.

"Even though my knee isn’t 100 percent, it ain’t gone.”

James Jones plans to pick up his player option to return to the Miami Heat.

“Unless something crazy happens, I’ll be back,’’ Jones said Wednesday.

Jones, 32, is reportedly making $1.76 million this season.

After a strong performance in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Chicago Bulls, Chris Bosh got his coach, Erik Spoelstra, to reiterate a point he has been making throughout the forward's run with the Miami Heat.

“He is our most important player for a reason,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We’ve said that for three seasons. He allows everything to work on both ends of the court.”

Bosh averaged 13.6 points and 8.6 rebounds against the Bulls and limited Joakim Noah's rebounding impact.

LeBron James sought the advice of Ray Allen on how to shoot free throws and the four-time MVP is beginning to reap the benefits.

James shot 80.8 percent from the stripe in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

"We’ve talked ad nauseam about his bad habits when he misses free throws, so he kind of has a better idea of it," Allen said. "He should watch real film of it. Not just game film, but on the court practicing. And then find that routine and stick to it and give himself a better chance."

James has taken to challenging Allen to free throw competitions during practice.

"You don’t want to look crazy making six out of 10 when he’s making 10 out of 10 every time," James said. "So, he puts pressure on me to make free throws, and I just try to translate what we do in practice into the game."

Greg Oden is attempting to return to the NBA after not playing since 2009.

Oden has received interest from the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, amongst other teams.

Deshaun Thomas, who attended Ohio State like Oden, said on Thursday that the two have been working out.

"Man, he looks unbelievable," he said at the draft combine. "He's running. He's lifting weights. You might be seeing a comeback. He looks like he's ready to go. He's running, getting in shape. I'll tell you one thing. For a big 7-footer that's all he does, running and getting in shape. He's looking right."

The Miami Heat have played key stretches without a point guard, playing Shane Battier and Ray Allen with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

But Erik Spoelstra is opting to use either Mario Chalmers or Norris Cole on the floor at virtually all times during the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Chicago Bulls.

Chalmers and Cole are averaging a combined 20.3 points in the series. Cole is the third leading scorer for the Heat in the series at 12.5 points per game.

“We felt we had one of the younger point guard tandems in the league that we can build on and offer us championship minutes now,” Erik Spoelstra said.

“We felt very good about moving forward with them. That’s one of the main reasons we didn’t sign a veteran point guard. We’ve moved in a direction of playing more point guard basketball this year than we have the last two years. Less with hybrid point guards, more with them."

During Chris Bosh's tenure with the Toronto Raptors, the roster was built around him as their franchise player.

When joining the Miami Heat in 2010, Bosh was expected to take on a more complementary role on offense alongside LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

“Everybody says they want to win,’’ said Bosh. “But it’s always about what you’re willing to sacrifice to win. My situation is totally different. I rarely get play calls and before I was getting about 20 touches a game just off play calls (with Toronto). And that’s just something that I had to get used to. Just trying to match a different role in a different situation, it’s been extremely difficult for me. But I’ve kind of embraced that challenge and it continues to be a challenge. It’s never been easy. I try to rise to the top no matter what I do.’’ 

LeBron James is the second highest earner amongst professional athletes in the United States in 2013, finishing behind Floyd Mayweather.

James is projected to earn $56.5 million with $39 million in endorsements.

James is the first team-sport player in the top two on the list since Shaquille O’Neal in 2004.

LeBron James played one fewer minute per game in the opening round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs compared to 2012 (37.8 to 36.8) and 1.2 fewer minutes in the Conference Semifinals (42.2 to 41.0).

Perhaps more importantly, James and the Miami Heat are on pace to play fewer games and fewer cumulative minutes.

The Heat needed five games to defeat the New York Knicks in the opening round last season, allowing this season's sweep of the Milwaukee Bucks to result in 42 fewer minutes for James.

If the Heat beat the Bulls in Game 5 and James plays 40 minutes, he will have played 49 fewer total minutes.

The Boston Celtics extended last season's Eastern Conference Finals to seven games and 320 total minutes for James.

If the Heat ultimately advance to The Finals in five games, James will enter the final round having played in approximately 180 fewer minutes than last season.

James showed no signs of fatigue in last season's Finals, but it was certainly a concern for many observers considering what he was being assigned to do on both sides of the floor.

LeBron James has often worn a padded sleeve on his right elbow since he first suffered an injury during the 2010 NBA playoffs.

James received an MRI on the elbow, but never discussed the extent of the injury.

James shot 11-for-35 over the final two games of the Cleveland Cavaliers' second round loss to the Boston Celtics, his final games with the franchise.

"My last year in Cleveland, I had an elbow injury that lingered throughout the playoffs," said James.

"I just tried to go out there and give it all you got. It sucks because you know you can play much better. You know you can do things but the injury is not allowing you to do it. It was on my shooting arm, so it was very tough. So I know what he's going through."