After a forgettable 3 game road trip where the Miami Heat dropped 3 straight, they will now look to desperately bounce back with a win at home against the Brooklyn Nets.
Miami has gotten off to a slow start with a current record of 1-3. Brooklyn has a record of 1-2, but coming off a win on Monday night against the Charlotte Hornets.
A lot of the struggles for Miami thus far could very much be stemming from Jimmy Butler. The superstar has looked off to begin the season, and hasn’t scored more than 19 points in the season opening win against the Detroit Pistons. He has shot just 32% from the field in the 3 games he has played this season.
Now, Butler finds himself on the injury report with what seems to be knee tendinitis. He is listed as questionable for tonight, and may not be suiting up.
Josh Richardson should be the next candidate to fill in for Butler in the starting 5 if he’s unavailable with Caleb Martin also being listed as out.
However, Bam Adebayo has been upgraded to probable and after missing 1 game should be back and ready to go from his sore hip. Haywood Highsmith has also been upgraded to questionable and might make his season debut. Highsmith is expected to have a big role in the team’s rotation this season.
The Nets on the other hand are really banged up. Core guys like Nic Claxton, Spencer Dinwiddie and Cam Johnson are all likely out.
Cam Thomas is someone who needs to be held in check though, as the young guard has stepped into a bigger role due to the team’s injuries and has not disappointed. Thomas has dropped over 30 points in each of the last 3 games.
Injuries have been a common problem for the Heat for years now. With an unimpressive record so far it should be nice to eventually see this roster at full strength. If both Adebayo and Highsmith play tonight, the only question marks with injuries going forward would be Butler and Martin.
It was good to see J-Rich back in action the other night as well, and now will suit up back in front of the home fans from the team that drafted him. He looked a little rusty, but Richardson is familiar with the system here and everyone should be optimistic that he can eventually get back into some sort of a rhythm.
Another thing to note from the last game was how solid the young guys in Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jovic looked. Jaquez had some great defensive plays and Jovic was filling it up offensively in limited minutes towards the end of the night. It will be interesting to see if Jovic will get another opportunity soon.
Tyler Herro is coming off a super impressive and efficient outing on Monday night. He dropped 35 points and 8 rebounds while shooting 57% from the field.
Tonight’s game will tip off at 7:30 PM ET on Bally Sports Florida.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Caleb Martin (knee) — OUT
- Bam Adebayo (hip) — Probable
- Jimmy Butler (knee) — Questionable
- Haywood Highsmith (knee) — Questionable
Brooklyn Nets:
- Nic Claxton (ankle) — OUT
- Noah Clowney (g-league) — OUT
- Cam Johnson (calf) — OUT
- Dariq Whitehead (g-league) — OUT
- Spencer Dinwiddie (ankle) — Doubtful
- Dennis Smith Jr. (hip) — Doubtful
Projected Starting 5:
Miami Heat:
- Kyle Lowry, G
- Tyler Herro, G
- Jimmy Butler, F
- Kevin Love, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Brooklyn Nets:
- Cam Thomas, G
- Royce O’Neil , G/F
- Miles Bridges, F
- Dorian Finney-Smith, F
- Ben Simmons, F/C
Betting Lines (at the time of this publishing):
- Check the odds out at FanDuel!
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 7:30 PM EST
- TV: Bally Sports Sun (Eric Reid, John Crotty)
- Radio: AM 560 Sports WQAM & The HEAT Radio Network (Jason Jackson)
- Spanish Radio: WAQI 710 AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda)
Come back to Hot Hot Hoops at game time to join our GameThread and chat about the game live with other Heat fans!
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There we go, HH!
Looking at Heat’s future 5 starters .
Let’s go game thread!
Lots of nice games today. But best would be the one where we win 😁🔥🏀💪🏻
With the introduction of the in season tournament NBA cup, I have no doubt that different teams have different approaches to it. Some are playing the early part of this season like any regular season, while other teams do not want to show the full deck in their hands. I believe that the Heat is of the latter part and I am looking forward to see how it pans out.
big game early in season 1 4 or 2 3
not sure who micic is.but knicks have brunson dont really need quickley.i would quickly call ny.char has two i would rush a caLL for rozier.ricky rubio no thanks . conley long in the toothlowry is terrible agree.spo wont give hampton any run.dru smith borderline nba/gleaguer.this is what happens when u wait for dame.rest of roster pretty dam good except at the most important position
The Heat have a glaring problem at point guard, and they need to fix it.
“The Heat have a big problem at point guard, and they need to address it sooner rather than later. Either that or your playoff fairy tale will turn into a ping-pong ball watch party come May.”
https://allucanheat.com/2023/11/01/miami-heat-point-guard-problem-fix/?utm_campaign=FanSided+Daily&utm_source=FanSided+Daily&utm_medium=email&sc=e0273490fd355e2c28bdb25751d41af65a4dd80936ff00a80be9866c97887955
I agree about that.
A perfect starting point guard for Heat would be somebody like Rubio, Conley, Micic, all smart, pass first point guards… problems with those would be mental health state of Rubio, age of Conley, and inexperience of Micic. So there is Brogdon…, the problem is, that he is in Portland.