When Dwyane Wade suited up for the Miami Heat’s game against the Toronto Raptors Sunday, he showed doubters he was more than capable of playing in back-to-back games. Just a year removed from the becoming-notorious maintenance program developed by the Heat to maintain Wade’s health for a deep playoff run last season, the Heat organization is saying what they can to stop any rumors of Wade needing to go back into maintenance.

And from his near triple-double in Toronto, in which he made 7-of-11 shots for 19 points and 11 rebounds and seven assists in 31 minutes, it looks like he’s just fine for now.

Via the Tom D’Angelo for the Palm Beach Post.

“We’re going to go day to day, but we are able to keep his minutes manageable,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But he felt great. I think he looked quicker tonight than last night.” […] “Last year was last year,” Wade said of his maintenance program. “I never experienced what I experienced last year. We tried something. This year is totally different. Just keep playing. Don’t even think about it.”

Managing his minutes and managing his games are two different things. The Heat kept Wade out of 28 games last season in order to keep his knees as fresh as possible. Spoelstra won’t be prescribing missed games this season as much as he’ll be trying to keep his minutes around 31 per game.

So far, Wade is playing an average of 31.7 minutes per game, logging 31 minutes twice and 33 minutes against the Philadelphia 76ers. Once Danny Granger returns to the rotation, that should give the Heat additional depth and less of a reason to play Wade upwards of 30-or-so minutes per game.

Who did they learn this from? Look at the Spurs, who didn’t have a single player average at least 30 minutes per game last season. I found it strange that even though the Heat were keeping Wade out of games, when they let him play they were open to playing him nearly 34-36 minutes per game. I argued then that the Heat should at least manage his minutes closer to 30 when letting him play.

The Heat aim to mimic the Spurs in their ball movement, and quite possible in their minutes allocation with everyone not named Chris Bosh.

Wade will miss games this season. That’s as close to a fact as you can get. But playing fewer minutes per game should pay dividends in the future, allowing him to play more often and complete the second part of more back-to-backs.