It's becoming less likely Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade will return during the preseason.
Wade, who suffered a strained hamstring against the Detroit Pistons on Oct. 5, missed his fifth straight game. He remains away from the team as he tends to a court case in Chicago involving the custody of his two children.
Larry Brown took care of the requisite gushing two hours before tipoff.
"They've done," the venerable Charlotte Bobcats coach said, "an amazing job."
No, Dwyane Wade was not in the building Monday for the Miami Heat, but his presence loomed, as part of what the Heat will take into the regular-season opener now a week away, next Tuesday at TD Garden against the Boston Celtics.
In the wake of Monday's exhibition loss to the Charlotte Bobcats, LeBron James found himself addressing the NBA Finals.
But the Miami Heat forward wasn't getting ahead of himself.
He merely was trying to get ahead of what many players around the league are considering a dangerous preseason precedent, reduced tolerance from referees when it comes to issuing technical fouls.