Shaquille O'Neal's comeback will have to wait a little longer.

O'Neal will not be on the court for the Miami Heat (18-20) on Friday when they visit the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wachovia Center.

The way Miami has played recently, it could be fine without its star center. O'Neal has played in four games - averaging 14.0 points and 7.5 rebounds - for the Heat this season before having surgery to repair torn left knee cartilage on Nov. 19. He may be ready for Sunday's home game against Dallas in a rematch of last season's NBA finals.

"Shaq is working out, feeling good, getting better day to day,'' Miami interim coach Ron Rothstein said Thursday. "That's it. Case closed."

Having O'Neal back in the lineup certainly will provide something positive for the defending champs, who have dealt with plenty of issues including an injury to Dwyane Wade and coach Pat Riley's recent leave of absence for health concerns.

"We understand as athletes that certain injuries to certain players take longer,'' Wade said of O'Neal. "This is a knee injury to someone who weighs 300-some pounds. We know it's going to take a little longer. We just want to make sure he comes back full strength.

"No matter how many games it takes, we know he's going to be there with us when we have to make our run."

Lately, though, Miami has played like a championship team, winning five of its last six games after losing five straight. Its only loss during that span was 124-118 in overtime to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday as the Heat completed a 4-2 road trip.

Miami didn't have Wade for all but six minutes with a wrist injury during the five-game skid. He scored 33 points, including a key layup with 4.3 seconds left in its 104-101 win over Indiana on Thursday.

Wade is averaging 30.6 points - slightly better than his 28.1 season average - in six games since his return on Jan. 7.

Miami shot 58.4 percent from the field against the trade-depleted Pacers, but almost blew a 16-point lead. The Heat have made more than half their shots in four of their last five games, while averaging 113.2 points in their last five games.

"We got lackadaisical, but we won a game," Wade said. "That's all we care about."

Philadelphia (10-29) has lost three consecutive games, seven of its last eight and owns the worst record in the Eastern Conference.

With former stars Allen Iverson now in Denver and Chris Webber in Detroit, the 76ers continue to look for a scoring option. Reserve Kyle Korver scored a season-high 30 points on 11-for-17 shooting and Willie Green had 23 in Philadelphia's 118-102 loss at Memphis on Wednesday.

Leading scorer Andre Iguodala averages 16.2 ppg, but was held to four points and is averaging only 11.0 points in his last three games.

Philadelphia shot 50.0 percent from the field, the first time it's hit that mark since shooting 53.9 percent in a 98-83 win at Boston on Dec. 22. However, Memphis shot 53.8 percent and led by as many as 25 in the first half.

"We haven't come out with a lot of energy for a good week or two, for whatever reason,'' Korver said. "That's something we've got to work on. We didn't play well at all in the first half, and the hole we put ourselves in was too big.''

The teams split the first two games this season with Miami winning 103-91 at home on Nov. 27 in the most recent contest.