MILWAUKEE -- Erik Spoelstra had some very tough rotation decisions to make as he prepared the defending champion Miami Heat for this season's playoff run.

But considering the schedule and circumstances, this call should be easy for the NBA Coach of the Year candidate.

The Heat should shut down Dwyane Wade for what's left of their first-round series against the Milwaukee Bucks. Ahead 3-0 with a chance to sweep the series on Sunday, there's no better time than now to give Wade the time off he needs to treat the recurring soreness in his right knee.

Miami clearly doesn’t need Wade to close out the Bucks.

But the Heat will need their second-leading scorer and psychological leader to get them through a potential second-round series against the Bulls, followed by a conference finals matchup with either the Pacers or Knicks and an NBA Finals showdown against whichever team is fortunate enough to emerge from the banged-up West.

It didn't take Friday's stunning announcement that Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook needed knee surgery and will be out indefinitely to remind the Heat just how fragile and volatile these teams and times are now. But Westbrook's injury did land another sobering blow to these playoffs, a blow that was as thunderous as any of his vicious dunks.

No fewer than 10 of the 16 teams in the playoff field are missing at least one starter or primary rotation player because of a season-ending injury. Westbrook now joins Denver's Danilo Gallinari, Golden State's David Lee, New York's Amar'e Stoudemire, Boston's Rajon Rondo, Chicago's Derrick Rose and seemingly every Los Angeles Laker not named Dwight Howard or Pau Gasol among the wounded elite to see their team's title hopes weakened.

Injuries are unpredictable. There's no way to prepare for them or really guard against them. But teams can -- and should -- do whatever they can when afforded the opportunity to reduce the risk by limiting players who are obviously pushing through nagging and recurring issues.

That brings this all back to the Heat and Wade, who has been receiving extensive treatment for multiple bruises and inflammation around his knee for the better part of two months. Wade aggravated the knee again in Thursday's victory against the Bucks and finished 1-of-12 from the field with just four points for the worst playoff shooting performance of his career. After the game, Wade admitted that his knee was bothering him but that he was still able to do enough to finish the game and also contribute 11 assists, nine rebounds, five steals and two blocks.

On Friday, Wade went to his former college campus at Marquette to receive two hours of treatment on his knee, and Spoelstra declined to give a definite status for Wade's availability for Game 4 on Sunday afternoon. What the coach did say was that Wade clearly needs time to heal and get back to consistently being that explosive player Miami saw for extended stretches midway through the season.

“He's been dealing with this for over a month,” Spoelstra said Friday during an off day for the team. “He's getting better, but he plays a physical game. He was on the floor four or five times last night. He got hit in the elbow, got hit in the face, got hit in the knee -- all in one play. He's fighting through it. Some days are better than others. It all depends on the collisions he's had the night before.”

There was a time not long ago when the Heat, Wade and Spoelstra wouldn't so vividly divulge the aches, pains, bumps and bruises Wade has been dealing with. But now, it's more of a surprise when Wade emerges from a game without having to have one limb or another treated for hours after a game and then well into the next day or so.

Credit the Heat for being proactive with Wade's knees throughout the season, especially with him coming off summer surgery on his other knee. But this has been a painful and frustrating balance for Wade, despite his upbeat nature and willingness to finally acknowledge and start to embrace his NBA mortality. For the first four months of the season, Wade worked to get his surgically-repaired left knee strong enough to restore his game to an elite level.

And just when he started to turn a corner and sustain a stretch of breakout performances in February at the start of the Heat's 27-game win streak, his right knee took a hit.

Then another.

And then another two after that.

It's been a back-and-forth battle between rebuilding one leg and recovering from an injury to the other one.

“He's building each and every day, trying to get back to where he was midseason,” LeBron James said of Wade. “Each and every day, each and every game when he gets a chance to get with his physicians and trainers to help him get back, he'll continue to strengthen that knee. A couple of moves he's had, he still shows why he still is and will be one of the best players on the floor each and every night.”

The Heat rested Wade for six consecutive games and eight of 10 over the final four weeks of the regular season to give him a running start entering the playoffs. Since then, there have been flashes of athletic and dominant play as well as stretches of hard falls, limping and grimaces.

Some good days, some bad.

Nights pushing himself on the court are followed by days pouring himself onto training tables and then hot or cold tubs. It's made for an especially bitter-sweet experience for Wade the past few days in Milwaukee. He transitions between reliving some of those glory moments of his youth on Marquette's campus where he starred in college, and then realizing the impact of 10 NBA seasons on his body.

“I'm not there; I'm still building,” Wade said of the status of his right knee before Game 3. “I'm trying to take care of my body because I know how important it is. That's why I've been in there [in treatment and training] all afternoon, because I'm not where I want to be, not even close. But I'm able to push through, get through certain things. But I've still got a lot more improvement to do. Once I get there, you'll see a lot different smile on my face.”

It's a process of avoiding diminished returns. Wade considers it progress when he plays one night and wakes up the next day without the knee feeling worse than before.

In reality, that's not necessarily progress.

It's survival. And right now, the Heat can survive without him at this stage of the playoffs. Maybe the next one, too, if Miami continues to get production from Ray Allen, who is averaging 16.7 points off the bench this series.

Spoelstra insisted Friday that Wade's condition right now is nowhere near as bad as it was in last season's playoffs when he had the left knee drained in the second round against Indiana and then dragged his leg through the title run.

“It's not anywhere near that,” Spoelstra said. “Structurally, his knee is as good as it's been in years. And that's why we're treating it day to day. What it needs is time, and it gets better. And what it also needs is no collisions.”

There's only one way to assure Wade gets plenty of the former and avoids any of the latter: Sit him.

Buy Wade as much time as possible to rest and recover and hope the Bulls and Nets slug it out for six or seven games. Right now, the Heat aren't just one of the best teams in the playoffs. They're also the healthiest. And right now in this first-round series against the Bucks, they have the equivalent of a 20-point lead late in the fourth quarter.

Don't bother risking anything with Wade at this stage of the game. The Heat are far better off just resting him.

MILWAUKEE -- LeBron James recalls that July jackpot moment back in Las Vegas like it was yesterday.

James wasn't at any of the tables or slot machines. Instead, he was in a basketball gym hosting a summer tournament that showcased 100 of the nation's top prep prospects.

When his cell phone rang, James stepped aside for a moment to take the call informing him that Ray Allen had agreed to leave the Boston Celtics to sign with the Miami Heat. James hung up the phone and called Allen right away.

“The first thing I said was, 'This is what we've been talking about for a while,'” James said Thursday as he reflected on that moment in free agency with Allen last summer. “I've always tried to be in his ears, saying, 'Hey, let's join at some point. Let's join. Let's join.' And he was like, 'The time is now.' I knew what he was able to do against me in the past. I knew that threat could add another dimension to our team we haven't had our first two years in Miami.”

It's no wonder James celebrated the hardest Thursday night when Allen reached another career milestone late in the Heat's 104-91 win to take a commanding 3-0 series lead against Milwaukee in the first round of the playoffs.

Allen's 3-pointer with 8:38 left in the game moved him past Reggie Miller to become the NBA's career leader for made 3s in the playoffs. It also capped a devastating 23-7 run that gave the Heat their largest lead at 17 points.

Allen finished with a team-high 23 points, two short of matching the Heat's all-time record for scoring by a reserve in a postseason game. Allen was 5-of-8 from beyond the arc to bring his career playoff total to 322 made 3-pointers. Allen had already passed Miller to become the league's career leader in total 3-point field goals made overall.

Thursday's moment for Allen carried additional sentimental value because it came in the Bradley Center, where he spent the first six years of his career with the Bucks.

“I just think about all the guys that came before me,” Allen said of the shooters he learned from earlier in his career. “There's so many great players, great shooters … that have set the bar. Reggie set the bar. Craig Hodges, I looked up to. I played with Dale Ellis and Dell Curry, both of those guys and Ricky Pierce. I got to see first-hand what it took to prepare and what it took to be a great shooter at any moment in the game. I'm just carrying on the torch.”

On Thursday, that torch was aimed at the Bucks. And the Heat needed every bit of the extra spark Allen provided on a night when Dwyane Wade had the worst playoff shooting performance of his career and Chris Bosh struggled early.

Wade missed 11 of his 12 shots and had six turnovers, but also contributed 11 assists, nine rebounds, five steals and two blocks. Wade's four points were the second-fewest of his career in a playoff game, and he said after the game that he was dealing with recurring soreness in his right knee. Wade also missed most of the second half to receive treatment on the bench for a bruised right forearm.

In many ways, it was Ray Appreciation Day for the Heat.

Wade thanked Allen in the locker room for “picking me up” and carrying the scoring lead at shooting guard.

“We don't take him for granted,” Heat coach Eric Spoelstra said of Allen, who has played in Boston, Seattle and Milwaukee during his 17-year career. “He's Everyday Ray. Having someone of his caliber, with his resume, off the bench is significant. Without him, we probably don't have a chance to pull away in the fourth. He's done this everywhere he's been. We've been on the other end. That's why we recruited him so hard. He knocks down two, three or four to put you away.”

And that has been a demoralizing reality for the Bucks, who continued a trend of matching the Heat's energy and effort well into the second half, only to see Miami put the game out of reach with a game-changing spurt down the stretch.

Miami used a 9-0 charge in Game 1 on the way to a 110-87 victory. In Game 2, the Heat went on a 12-0 to start the fourth quarter with James anchoring a group of reserves that included Allen, Shane Battier, Norris Cole and Chris Andersen. That unit also inflicted the damage Thursday and have the Heat within a victory Sunday of completing their first series sweep since James arrived three seasons ago.

Jennings essentially said the Bucks can only contain so many of the Heat's weapons. With Wade and Bosh struggling and James held largely in check, the Bucks built a 10-point lead in the first half and felt good about their chances of rallying to get back into the series.

But then Allen warmed up on those familiar rims.

“Ray Allen played here for a long time in his career, so he's used to this arena,” Jennings said. “That was one of the turning points right there. He was knocking down a lot of 3s and getting into the paint. He was really being aggressive. When you have another guy like that coming off the bench, it brings a spark. They are a tough team to beat with LeBron, [Wade] and Bosh. Ray comes in and contributes, and that is what really caused us problems.”

In many ways, Allen is just starting to get comfortable in his role with the Heat. After being a starter throughout his career, Allen struggled to find his rhythm and role at times during his first season as a full-time reserve in Miami. He was also still dealing with recovery soreness in his ankle after having surgery last summer to remove bone spurs.

But Allen appears to have found his footing in his first playoff series with the Heat. He has scored at least 20 points in two of the three games against Milwaukee and is averaging 16.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3 assists while shooting 42.8 percent from 3-point range in the series.

“In the playoffs there are so many things that take place,” Allen said. “You just have to hunker down and find a way to make this team better. Now we [face] the same team. I know who my matchup is, the plays they're running and what we need to run to be successful. I try to find every opportunity, every moment to be more efficient out on the floor, to make these guys better and allow them to make me better. It's easier more now to settle in.”

Allen was once a player that beat the Heat with big shots.

Now he's providing them a significant postseason boost.

“The No. 1 thing when I got an opportunity to talk to him is it seemed like he had a new start and a breath of fresh air,” James said of that initial discussion with Allen last summer. “It's continued ever since that conversation.”

And James has liked his odds with Allen ever since, too.