CLEVELAND (AP) Miami rookie guard Dwyane Wade was activated from the injured list Wednesday night just before the Heat played the Cavaliers after missing 13 games with a sprained wrist.

Wade, a first-round pick averaging 16.2 points a game, injured his right wrist when he fell in a win at Washington on Dec. 26.

To make room for Wade, the club placed forward Rasual Butler on the injured list with a strained groin.

Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said Wade, who has started all 29 games he's played this season, will come off the bench for now.

``I think it will take him some time to settle in and get back to his game,'' Van Gundy said. ``But I don't think it will take long.''

Wade is averaging a team-high 4.4 assists, 4.2 rebounds and a team-leading 1.28 steals in 36.5 minutes. He will play in next month's Rookie Challenge during All-Star weekend in Los Angeles.

Butler was averaging 5.7 points and 1.4 rebounds.

MIAMI (AP) Miami Heat rookie guard Dwyane Wade, sidelined since Dec. 30 with a bruised wrist, will likely be activated for Wednesday's game at Cleveland, coach Stan Van Gundy said Tuesday.

Wade, who has missed 13 games because of the injury, is third on the team in scoring at 16.2 points per game.

Center Brian Grant didn't make the trip because of a bruised left knee and tendinitis in his right knee. The Heat expect him to miss only one game.

MIAMI (AP) So Pat Riley bailed on them four days before the season. So they lost their first seven games. So they're still seven games below .500 more than two months later.

The Miami Heat shouldn't despair: They play in the Eastern Conference.

That makes their outlook much less dire. In fact, a victory Monday over Houston left the Heat trailing by half a game in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the weak East.

In the West, they would be six games out.

``We're very grateful,'' forward Caron Butler said. ``We never gave up, and good things are happening.''

Those good things include a lot of losing by the Heat's rivals in the Atlantic Division, where only New Jersey sports a winning record.

``We're blessed,'' Miami coach Stan Van Gundy said. ``The division is not real strong, let's be honest. A lot of teams are struggling.''

Until recently, that included the Heat. Now they have a three-game winning streak going into Wednesday's game at Cleveland. And rookie guard Dwyane Wade, often the Heat's best player this season, is on the verge of returning from a wrist injury that has sidelined him since Dec. 30.

The streak is especially encouraging for a team that was 5-15 in early December. Miami routed New Jersey on Friday, beat the Knicks in New York on Saturday, then defeated Houston on Monday.

The 11-point win over Houston was a measure of the Heat's progress. The last time the teams met, Miami lost by 20 to fall to 0-7.

``Stan has moved them forward a long way from the start of the year,'' Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. ``They have improved as much as anybody in the league.''

There might be a slight bias, considering the Van Gundys are brothers. Still, Jeff's assertion is supported by the Heat's 14 wins in the past 25 games.

``They've been passing the ball,'' Houston guard Steve Francis said. ``At first they were playing selfish basketball, but now they pass the ball to the open guy.''

Even so, the offense ranks next-to-last in the NBA in scoring, but Wade's return is sure to provide a boost. He was averaging 16.2 points per game and winning raves as one of the league's top rookies before getting hurt.

Free agent acquisitions Odom and Rafer Alston have also been welcome additions. The 6-foot-10 Odom appears on the verge of blossoming at age 24, with the kind of performance he had Monday _ 20 points, 15 rebounds _ becoming routine.

``I'd rather it be like that than when you have a good game and everybody's surprised,'' he said.

Point guard Alston, a New York City playground legend but an NBA journeyman, has helped sustain the Heat's tradition of strong defense. He's the primary reason Francis, Stephon Marbury and Jason Kidd shot a combined 8-for-39 against Miami in the past three games.

``Rafer keeps the ball in front of him,'' Van Gundy said. ``We don't have a lot of guys who do that real well.''

Van Gundy's droll humor has served the Heat well so far, as has his sense of the big picture.

``We're a struggling team,'' he said. ``I want to keep playing like a team that's seven games under .500. I don't want to start playing like a team that thinks we have it rolling.''

MIAMI (AP) Miami Heat guard Rafer Alston's long jump shot clanked off the rim and deflected straight up, six feet above the basket, then fell through the net. Alston backpedaled upcourt with his palms pressed together in prayerful gratitude for lucky bounces.

Lord knows the Heat could use a few. They're last in the NBA in shooting and next to last in scoring, which is why they're a season-worst 10 games below .500.

Opponents tends to clog the inside and let the Heat win or lose from the perimeter. Usually they lose.

``People have decided, `We're going to stand in the lane against the Miami Heat,''' Miami coach Stan Van Gundy says. ``I think people have said, `We're going to keep them away from the rim. We're going to make them shoot the ball.'''

The Heat are shooting 41 percent, which is last among the league's 29 teams and on pace for a franchise record. Even the 1988-89 expansion team that went 15-67 shot 45 percent.

The only player to make half his shots has been Tyrone Hill, who went 3-for-5 but was waived anyway Dec. 1. Lamar Odom is shooting 41 percent, Eddie Jones 40, Alston 35 and Caron Butler 33.

The Heat are averaging 85.8 points per game, nearly 20 less than league leader Sacramento.

``We can score points,'' says rookie Udonis Haslem, who had 18 in a loss Tuesday to Boston. ``As a team we just have to be more aggressive. I think guys tend to sit around and watch Eddie and Lamar do their thing. We have to step in and help those guys.''

The Heat have never been a high-scoring team, not even when they were perennial Atlantic Division champions under Pat Riley. But their scoring average has declined to a franchise record low each of the past three seasons.

Win totals have been falling too, from 52 in 1999-00 to 50 to 36 to 26 a year ago. The Heat started this season 0-7 and have lost six of their past seven games to fall to 16-26.

Van Gundy says the Heat need to run and attack the basket more, but their lack of height makes the going inside tough. Miami tried 31 layups in one recent game and had 10 shots blocked.

``With our size, we're driving and dishing and it's tough for us to finish against bigger teams,'' Van Gundy says.

Points have been especially hard to come by late in the game. The Heat scored five points in the final 5{ minutes of Tuesday's 86-84 defeat. Five losses in the past two weeks have been by less than 10 points.

``We've been in every game lately,'' Alston says, ``but down the stretch, other teams seem to hit their shots and we don't. We've got to start making those shots, me included.''

Because the Heat play in the weak Eastern Conference, the standings Wednesday showed them trailing by just 2{ games in the race for the eighth and final playoff berth. Better health in the second half of the season might be enough to help the Heat make up that deficit.

Butler has been slow to recover from arthroscopic knee surgery in October, and his scoring average has declined to 6.5 from 15.4 as a rookie last season. Rookie guard Dwyane Wade, at times Miami's best offensive player this season, has been sidelined since Dec. 30 with a wrist injury but might return next week.

``We've got to get it going,'' Butler says. ``We're getting all of our guys back. We'll be fine.''

The next chance to make up ground in the playoff race comes Friday, when the Heat host division leader New Jersey. Miami plays 24 of its final 41 games at home.

MIAMI (AP) Miami Heat center Brian Grant sat out Tuesday night's game against Boston because of a bruised left knee, ending his streak of 123 consecutive games.

Grant's streak was the fifth-longest in team history. Glen Rice holds the Heat record of 174.

Grant's status is day-to-day. His knee has bothered him all season, and he aggravated the injury Sunday at Denver, coach Stan Van Gundy said.

``I don't think it'll be a long-term thing,'' Van Gundy said.

Malik Allen started in Grant's place.

MIAMI (AP) Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade had the cast removed from his right wrist Monday, the first step in returning to the lineup.

His wrist was placed in a splint, allowing him to begin therapy and practice on a limited basis. Wade injured his wrist Dec. 26 against Washington. He was placed on the injury list Jan. 2 and has missed the last nine games.

Wade has been one of the NBA's top rookies, averaging 16.2 points and 4.4 assists.

Also Monday, forward Samaki Walker underwent surgery to remove bone spurs from his right ankle. Walker, who has averaged 3.9 points and 4.1 rebounds in 20 games, is expected to be sidelined at least a month.

Alonzo Mourning might not be done playing basketball yet.

His recovery from kidney transplant surgery is going well and he wants to running and lifting weights. He might even want to play basketball by the end of the regular season.

His doctor, Gerald Appel does not think a return to the NBA and the New Jersey Nets is out of the question.

It could very well come up," Appel said Wednesday in a telephone interview. "The one thing Alonzo has never had is an N.B.A. championship, and if the Nets are contenders, this could be an issue. I'm not writing it off. As well as I've known Alonzo the last three and a half years, I know that it's in the back of his mind. So it has to be in the back of my mind, too."

Jazz point guard Carlos Arroyo played college ball in Florida at Florida International University and wouldn't mind returning to the state play for the Miami Heat if contract talks don't go well with the Utah this summer.

"I'm looking forward to being [with the Jazz] next year -- it's definitely going to be my first option," Arroyo said. "I don't know what their thinking is as far as bringing me back or not, but I would definitely love to play at home [with the Heat], too. Right now, it's Utah."

MIAMI (AP) The Miami Heat activated Udonis Haslem from the injured list on Tuesday, and placed Samaki Walker on it because of bone spurs in his right ankle.

Haslem missed seven games with a sprained right knee and strained knee ligament. The rookie had started 18 of Miami's first 30 games, averaging 6.0 points and 5.9 rebounds.

Walker is averaging 3.9 points and 4.1 rebounds in 20 games.

Former NBA star and current Houston Rockets assistant coach Patrick Ewing offered Alonzo Mourning one of his kidneys before he received one from a family member.

"He was a friend in need," Ewing told reporters in Houston, "I could have helped him. It was a chance to save his life. It was something I wanted to do. I was tested before I came to Houston, and it was a match. I have high-blood pressure so it didn't work out."