MIAMI -- Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade sat out Wednesday's game against the Milwaukee Bucks because of a sore right thigh.

James Jones made his sixth start of the season in Wade's place.

Coach Erik Spoelstra said before Wednesady's game that Wade is day to day and still limping after injuring his right thigh in Sunday's game against the New Jersey Nets. Wade did not participate in the Heat's morning shootaround on Wednesday.
"He is still very sore," Spoelstra said. "We want to make sure he is as healthy as can be down the stretch and for the playoffs. This is a collective decision."

Wade left Sunday's game in the first half but returned after halftime to start the third quarter. He finished with 18 points, five assists, and three rebounds in 28 minutes of playing time.

The Heat (54-23) have five games remaining on the season and are tied for the Eastern Conference's No. 2 seed with the Boston Celtics.

Spoelstra said he weighed playoff implications, but decided rest would be the best option.

"[Wade] understands this time of year," Spoelstra said. "We are playing for something. Everybody in the locker room knows it, but we also have the big picture in mind."

Wade received treatment on Monday. However, at a promotional event for his Jordan brand shoe, Wade said pain was lingering in his leg.

Wade has missed four games this season and is averaging 25.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and has registered a player efficiency rating (PER) of 25.6.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown each had a goal and an assist, and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Nashville Predators 4-2 Tuesday night to wrap up the franchise's first sweep of a four-game road trip.

Alec Martinez and Wayne Simmonds also had goals as the Kings won the season series with Nashville 3-1. Brown sealed the victory with an empty-netter with 62 seconds left.

Jonathon Blum and J.P. Dumont each scored for Nashville.
The Predators came in trailing fifth-place Los Angeles by only three points in the tight Western Conference, but they snapped a two-game winning streak and missed out on a chance to move from ninth into one of the top eight spots.

Nashville outshot the Kings 32-18 but just couldn't beat Jonathan Bernier, who has been in net in all four games this season against the Predators.

Nashville took 10 of the game's first 11 shots and Bernier stopped every one, including back-to-back attempts by rookie Blake Geoffrion and Mike Fisher.

Los Angeles took advantage of a faceoff to goalie Pekka Rinne's left. Dustin Penner got the puck along the boards and passed it back to Kopitar, who wristed it past Rinne with 6:29 left in the first for the 1-0 lead.

That quieted the fans and not even a big check by Jordin Tootoo could stir them.
The Predators tied it off a faceoff in their offensive zone, and Blum scored his second this season on a slap shot at the blue line with 2:31 to go to revive the crowd. Captain Shea Weber did his part, too, in the final seconds, sending Kings left wing Alexei Ponikarovsky into the boards with a crushing hit.

Nashville turnovers helped Los Angeles score twice in the second period and take control of the game. A turnover by the Predators in their offensive zone started a 3-on-2 breakaway, and Brown found Martinez with a cross-ice pass that he wristed past Rinne at 2:16 of the second for a quick 2-1 lead.

Ponikarovsky collected the puck near the blue line, keeping it inside the Kings' zone and getting it to Kopitar, who passed it cross-ice. Simmonds took it and sent a one-timer from the left circle between Rinne's stick and the post with just under 8 minutes left in the period.

Kopitar set the franchise record by playing in his 325th consecutive game, topping the mark previously set by Marcel Dionne at 325 between 1978 and 1982. Kopitar's streak started March 21, 2007, in his rookie season.

Nashville finally got the puck past Bernier with 7:17 to go in the game when Dumont, a healthy scratch the past two games, redirected Cody Franson's shot.
Brown's empty-netter finished off the win, and the Kings narrowly missed a second when the puck bounced off the right post just before the buzzer.

Hakim Warrick scored a career-high 32 points starting in place of injured Channing Frye and the Phoenix Suns added to their recent mastery of Houston with a 113-110 victory over the Rockets on Tuesday night. Vince Carter scored 15 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, including two of his five 3-pointers, in the Suns' seventh consecutive victory over Houston. Kevin Lowry scored 32 points, including a career-high seven 3-pointers, for the Rockets, who had won seven of eight overall and seven of eight road games entering the contest. The Suns, back after going 4-2 on their longest road trip of the season, never led by more than six in the game and trailed by 11. A rare free throw miss by Steve Nash gave the Rockets a chance to tie it at the finish, but Brad Miller's 3-point try under pressure was far off the mark at the buzzer. Grant Hill added 19 points for Phoenix and Marcin Gortat had 13 points and 16 rebounds. Patrick Patterson scored 18, Kevin Martin had 17 and Chase Budinger 15 for Houston in a matchup of two teams whose strong recent play has propelled them into the mix for a playoff spot in the West. The victory left the Suns 1 1/2 games behind idle Memphis for the conference's eighth and final playoff berth. Houston was without Luis Scola, who injured his left knee in the third quarter in the Rockets 123-101 rout of the Kings in Sacramento on Monday night. The Suns soon were without Mickael Pietrus, who drew two quick technicals from referee Mark Ayotte and was ejected with 9:03 left in the first half. The Suns' 10th turnover of the game, and Nash's second on consecutive possessions, led to a fastbreak dunk by Patterson that put Houston up 45-34 with five minutes left in the half. But Phoenix outscored the Rockets 14-5 the rest of the half. Warrick scored the first four on the run, then Hill and Carter sank 3s and Nash's 8-footer cut the lead to 50-48 at the break. Carter sank a 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left in the third quarter to cut Houston's lead to 82-79, then made one to start the fourth to tie it at 82. Carter, who fell a point shy of his season high, scored five straight Phoenix points, then Warrick dunked on a lob pass from Nash and made a 16-footer in a 9-4 spurt that put the Suns ahead 108-102 with 1:03 to play. Lowry's seventh 3-pointer cut it to 108-105 with 54 seconds remaining, then Gortat missed at the other end. But Miller's outlet pass was deflected by Hill into the hands of Nash, who made five straight free throws in the final 23.9 seconds before his miss gave Houston one last chance. In his first game against his former team, and first in Phoenix as a Sun, Aaron Brooks was 0 for 6 with two turnovers and four fouls in 12 1/2 minutes. Goran Dragic, traded to Houston for Brooks, was 0 for 4 shooting but did have three assists with zero turnovers and was 6 of 8 at the foul line. Notes: Frye is out 2-3 weeks after dislocating his right shoulder against Oklahoma City on Sunday. ... Houston opens a season-long six-game home stand Saturday night against San Antonio. ... All five of Warrick's 20-point games this season have come at home. ... The Suns are 18-8 since Jan. 12. and 6-0 in their last six games following a loss.

KAPALUA, Hawaii ¡ª The European Tour is stronger than ever, and PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem says he's glad to see it. The new golf season begins Thursday with the balance of power shifting toward Europe, which has the new world No. 1 in Lee Westwood and seven players among the top 11 in the world. Westwood, PGA champion Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy have decided not to take up membership in America, and the European Tour over the last two years has increased to 13 the number of events required of its players. All three were eligible for the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, but chose not to attend. British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, meanwhile, has chosen to play at home in the Africa Open. "This recent focus on three or four players, particularly as it relates to Europe, does not cause us concern," Finchem said. "We see the need for these players to support the tour in Europe. We feel like a strong European Tour is in everybody's interests ¡ª in our interests." The PGA Tour remains the strongest in the golf ¡ª 36 of the top 50 in the world ranking are members. Beyond Europe, it attracts the top players from South Africa, Australia and South America. Finchem acknowledged making it tough on Europe and chief executive George O'Grady four years ago when he moved The Players Championship ¡ª the richest event in golf ¡ª to May and created the FedEx Cup with its four-event playoff system in late summer. That meant European Tour players who also are PGA Tour members abandoned their home circuit at critical times in the May and September. "The European Tour has been under a lot of pressure, and we didn't help their cause," Finchem said. "So the fact that they have worked hard to encourage their players to play more ... is understandable. And we don't complain about that. We think that those steps are reasonable, and we support players playing more over there, even though it might cost us some starts over here. "We feel like we are strong enough and we like the balance of international players." Finchem said the tour has 75 international players this year, and he likes that balance. He said it would not be good for the PGA Tour to be populated by 90 percent of players from outside America because "we need to appeal to the market in the United States." "It's a balance that allows us to be very successful in the United States, and at the same be very successful in distributing our television product around the globe," he said. "As long as those two things are working, we don't have any concerns about this other stuff." Finchem said there was no plan to change its rule granting international players to play more than 10 or 12 tournaments a year on the PGA Tour if they are not members. McIlroy and Westwood, who gave up their memberships, can only play 10 events (not including The Players Championship), while Kaymer, Francesco Molinari and Ryo Ishikawa can play 12 because they have never been members. Finchem also said the FedEx Cup points system will stay the same for 2011. There had been several complaints that a player far down in the standings only needed one good tournament ¡ª without winning ¡ª to advance to the Tour Championship and become eligible for three of the majors. Martin Laird started at No. 95 and Kevin Streelman was at No. 102. Laird finished second at The Barclays and Streelman tied for third, and that was enough for both to advance to the final playoff event at East Lake. Some players complained that eight months of work leading up to the playoffs was not as important as one good week, especially without winning a tournament. "We just felt it was a little quick to react to that. We would rather watch it another year," Finchem said. "I do think it's an issue that clearly deserves watching. And then the other side of it ¡ª a smaller reason ¡ª was that we just felt we wanted a solid continuity to get more fans involved in the process without a distraction of explaining a change." On drug testing, Finchem said he is not ready to cut back on testing to save money, even though only one player ¡ªDoug Barron ¡ª has tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in three years. "The upshot of the amount of testing we have done, which is significant, is that we certainly don't have any kind of widespread problem," Finchem said. "I think that's due to the nature of the sport to some extent, but also to the diligence of the players in paying attention to the program, doing their homework, being careful, calling and asking questions." Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.