Last I checked, Valentine's Day was more than a month ago. Well, Miami Heat veteran Victor Oladipo still appears to be in a very affectionate mood as he recently discussed his road to recovery.

Oladipo logged his most minutes this season on Saturday in a 110-95 loss against Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets. The Heat guard played 25 minutes of action, putting up nine points, three rebounds, and six assists. This performance was a far cry from the former All-Star Oladipo once was but there's no denying that he is taking some major steps towards getting back to full strength for the Heat.

After logging a season-high in minutes against the Nets, Oladipo decided to get philosophical in describing his fitness journey. The 29-year-old went full Cupid as he compared his recent form to true love:

“Obviously, you can’t hurry love. So you can’t hurry this, either,” Oladipo said, via Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “So at the end of the day, I’m back, playing. But we got to be smart about it, obviously.

“You don’t want to do too much too fast, whatever the case may be. But I’m going to do whatever I can, with whatever I’m doing. So just got to go out there and keep playing hard.”

That was funny and very accurate at the same time. As he said above, Oladipo will just need to take all the time he needs here. He has been out of action for so long and he's worked extremely hard to get to where he is today. The last thing he wants is to suffer yet another injury.

Oladipo then talked about the 25 minutes he played against the Nets. According to the 6-foot-4 combo guard, he's just happy to be taking on a relatively heavy workload again and he's hoping to get his limit bumped up in the near future:

“Obviously, it was different,” Oladipo told the Sun Sentinel. “That was my first time playing 20-plus minutes in a long, long time, so yeah, it felt different. But I’m just glad to be able to do it, and just going to continue to keep building on it.”

At this point, however, Oladipo knows that this is something that is out of his hands. It's the team's medical staff who will be able to determine the best course of action in terms of increasing or even completely removing his minutes limits. For the time being, however, he will just have to go with the flow.

“I mean at the end of the day, I can’t answer that question. I don’t really know. I’m not in control,” he said. “I know it takes time. So I just got to keep playing and eventually my body and my mind will figure it out.”

It is worth noting, though, that Oldaipo did not play on Monday. The Heat snapped their four-game winning streak in a 123-100 blowout win against the Sacramento Kings, but Oladipo was unable to help his team. It does not sound like he suffered any new injury, and this could be another night off as part of his recovery program.

“Honestly,” he said, “I just need to play more basketball. I don’t know and I can’t tell unless I play and continue to try. I need more reps, more time. I got to get myself my time, more basketball over the next few weeks and just keep playing and things will eventually click.

“It’s not going to come overnight. I missed a long period of time. And also missed a long period of time not healthy, as well, when you think about the last two years.”

One thing Oladipo can say for sure is that he has not lost his desire to play. He understands his body can only take so much and that there are certain limits he must adhere to. However, he is also certain that the only way he can fully recover is by taking the court on a regular basis.

“I wasn’t playing basketball three weeks ago, so it ain’t nowhere near frustrating for me,” he said. “I just need to keep playing. If I keep playing, I know I’m going to get back to where I need to be.

“I know it’s going to take time, so I’m just staying patient. But I have no doubt that I’ll find my rhythm and flow and get back to being who I was before. So I have no doubt in my mind. I just have to trust the process. That’s what I’m doing.”

In six games played this season thus far, Oladipo has produced averages of 6.3 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 18.3 minutes per game. His performances have been underwhelming, to say the least, but he could still play a key role in the rotation down the stretch.