Goran Dragic had a simple question as Friday's game was about to start:

"Where's D-Wade?"

Dragic learned that Wade wasn't feeling well, and it wasn't clear if Wade would play.

Wade ultimately did enter, with 7:46 left in the second quarter, and he played well -- with 10 points and seven assists in just 19 minutes. And, in the nine minutes that he played with the other usual starters -- Dragic, Luol Deng, Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside -- the Heat shot 10-for-15 and outscored the Mavericks, 21-15.

Small sample size?

Sure.

But it continued a trend of solid play from that quintet.

Miami's regular starters were a minus-21 in November.

They are now a plus-11 overall on the season. They finally turned positive in Tuesday's loss to Memphis.

Again, this is not definitive proof that the lineup works. But it's promising, with 50 games left. And it may soothe any of Erik Spoelstra's lingering concerns about the group's fit.

When told of the positive number, Bosh said, "Somebody tell Spo." Bosh even offered to slide the statistic under Spoelstra's door.

And Deng also urged this reporter to let Spoelstra know.

My guess is he probably knows already.