Hassan Whiteside wasn't in the locker room when the media entered after Tuesday's 119-101 loss to San Antonio.

That came after he wasn't on the floor for the final 9:35 of the game, due to a flagrant two foul against Boban Marjanovic.

According to Heat officials, Whiteside didn't bolt to avoid reporters. Rather, the Heat preferred that Whiteside not be in position to say something that would linger for a week or more, with the All-Star break upcoming.

So, instead, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh did some speaking -- which again revealed the lengths Whiteside needs to go to win the total trust of his teammates.

"We're a team," Wade said. "We support each other. I think the one thing with Hassan is sometimes he goes quiet, He goes to himself a lot. So as his teammates sometimes it's hard to know what he's thinking. At the end of the day, we're all here together. We're all supposed to be in here for one common goal, and we're all trying to reach that goal. But sometimes we don't know what he's thinking. But, like I say, we all support each other. So he does something, you learn from it. We're going to support him, we'll be behind him, tell him when he's right, when he's wrong, and hope that he takes that the right way and continues to get better."

Wade said he hoped that someday Whiteside can talk to young players about things he's done, just like Alonzo Mourning "can talk to him, because Zo did some stuff in his day."

Chris Bosh said Whiteside "knows what he means to the team. He knows that he has to keep his head in every situation."

"I think the next step for him is really learning about reputation," Bosh said. "Unfortunately, he's taken a step back. Whether it's right or wrong, whether he made contact or not, I really don't know. But people see that and tend to expect certain things. You have to build your reputation back up. He's willing. He wants to win. We just have to encourage him and keep telling him what it takes to win because we haven't even begun to scratch the surface 50 games in. It's going to get a lot more emotional, tighter, and more tense in the locker room and on the court as this season goes on."