"It has been a month since Mike Bibby started a game. In retrospect, his incubation period on the Miami Heat bench might not have been such a bad thing.

Poised to make his first start with the Heat on Wednesday night on the road against the Detroit Pistons, Bibby has spent his first three weeks as a reserve. His waiting period ended when Mario Chalmers was lost for an expected two weeks with a sprained right knee sustained in Saturday's victory over the Denver Nuggets.

Bibby said Monday he's not sure he would have felt as confident if he immediately was injected into the starting lineup.

"It's been a long time since I got nervous for a game and I was nervous when I got here," he said.

Bibby's most recent start was a Feb. 22 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers while with the Atlanta Hawks. He was traded the following day to the Washington Wizards, playing two games there off the bench before receiving the buyout that allowed him to join the Heat.

By playing his first 10 games with the Heat as a reserve, Bibby said he was allowed to ease into a comfort zone.

"The main thing was I was nervous," he said. "I wanted to do good, I wanted to just be good for the guys . . . instead of bringing them down."

Now he said he feels in control."