After being without the services of center Hassan Whiteside in their Game 4 win over the Toronto Raptors on Monday, the Miami Heat will once again have to play without their star big man in Game 5 on the road. The team has announced that the seven-footer did not make the trip north as he continues to deal with a sprained right MCL, which he suffered in the third game of the series.

Without Whiteside, the Heat were able to keep pace with the Raptors in rebounding on Monday (39 apiece), but they no doubt missed his shot-blocking presence down low, picking up only five blocks for the game — down from their 6.2 per-game average in postseason play.

Amar'e Stoudemire got the starting nod in Whiteside's place in Game 4, but played only 12 minutes as Josh McRoberts wound up getting the majority of the extra playing time, contributing 21 minutes off the bench. It has not been announced who will start at center for Miami on Wednesday.

What has also gone unannounced is when Whiteside is expected to return, as the Heat have not gone into detail about how severe the sprain is. Though it was a sloppy affair, the team managed to win their first game without him to tie the series at two wins apiece, but they'll need his dominant post presence back soon if they want to make a deeper run into the NBA playoffs.

The 26-year-old has averaged 12.0 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game in his 10 postseason games.

[button width=”full” button size=”bigger” color=”custom” align=”center” textcolor=”#ffffff” texthcolor=”#ffffff” bgcolor=”#8b0000″ link=”https://clutchpoints.com/dwyane-wade-erik-spoelstra-comment-officially-losing-chris-bosh-affects-heat/”]NEXT: Dwyane Wade, Erik Spoelstra comment about how officially losing Chris Bosh affects Heat[/button]