The Miami Heat will play the second of their four-game road trip against the Atlanta Hawks Saturday evening in the first leg of a back-to-back, hoping to keep their three-game winning streak alive.
After beginning the season 1-4, the Heat have rattled off three straight wins against the Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers and, most recently, the Memphis Grizzlies. Though Saturday’s contest will be without two of their best offensive players in Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler.
Herro suffered a Grade 2 ankle sprain in Wednesday’s 108-102 win over the Grizzlies. He will be in a walking boot for 10 days and won’t be re-evaluated in two weeks; thus, he will likely miss the next 3-4 weeks of action. Butler will also be absent tonight with a personal family, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald reported Saturday morning.
Jimmy Butler is not in Atlanta and will miss tonight’s game vs. Hawks because of personal family reasons. Butler could possibly return for tomorrow’s game in San Antonio.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) November 11, 2023
The Heat currently own the fourth-worst offense leaguewide, posting 107.5 points per 100 possessions, but sink to by far the worst offensive in the league when Herro’s not on the floor. The absence of Butler doesn’t help mitigate matters much, either.
The Hawks, who are 5-3 with head coach Quin Snyder in his first full season with the organization, have the fifth-best offense and the No. 19 defense–equating to the ninth-best NET Rating (4.4) to the Heat’s -minus-2.1 NET (18th). Atlanta’s coming off a thrilling 120-119 win over the Orlando Magic in Mexico City Thursday.
The last time Miami and Altanta squared off was in the play-in tournament last April, where the Hawks earned a 116-105 win after corralling 22 offensive rebounds–including 14 in the second half. Miami went 3-1 against Atlanta in the regular season, with its lone loss coming in Atlanta on Jan. 16 (121-113).
Can Miami earn its fourth straight win, even without Butler and Herro? It’s not going to be easy, but it is doable.
Injury Report:
Miami Heat:
- Jimmy Butler (personal) — OUT
- R.J. Hampton (two-way) — OUT
- Tyler Herro (ankle) — OUT
- Nikola Jovic (illness) — PROBABLE
- Caleb Martin (knee) — OUT
Atlanta Hawks:
- Kobe Bufkin (thumb) — OUT
- Mouhamed Gueye (back) — OUT
- Seth Lundy (two-way) — OUT
- Wesley Matthews (calf) — QUESTIONABLE
- Miles Norris (two-way) — OUT
Projected Starting 5:
Miami Heat:
- Kyle Lowry, G
- Duncan Robinson, G/F
- Jaime Jaquez Jr., F
- Haywood Highsmith, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Atlanta Hawks:
- Trae Young, G
- Dejounte Murray, G
- DeAndre Hunter, F
- Jalen Johnson, F
- Clint Capela, C
Betting Lines (at the time of this publishing):
- Hawks -7 (-108)
- O/U: 225.5 (O: -110; U: -110)
- ML: Hawks -270, Heat +220
Lines courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
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atlantas a mess
dru and kyle 2 best players in 4th
atl with trey young will never win.he scores alot one on one selfish player
good play kyle so smart.ball game
lowrys experience helps
hh come on dunc that
bucks with dame not as good
great play dru hes been a diff maker
Wait… Jimmy out coz of personal family issues? Shakira giving birth?! lol
good one manila your on your a posting game tonight
The birdies must be excited they will not be seeing Jimmy. Oh well, go Heat!
Love the starting lineup with Jimmy out, but ngl this might be a lost to one of the highest scoring teams in the NBA. I hope im wrong, but We gotta either put the clamp down or score blow for blow. Looking forward to seeing some jovic,Cain, and some orob.
If all else fails, defend the hell out of them! Miami’s best weapon in times of lean offense is strong defense. I can see this group frustrating the hell out of Atlanta.
GO HEAT!!!
Yes exactly this. They won’t know what hit them because they won’t know who the 2nd, and 3rd scorers are lol. Also just like you said “lean offense is strong defense”.
Next Man Up!
— Guac-ez and Highsmith both starting.
— It’s time to find out what we have on the bench.
— Time for JRich, Love, Jovic, and Bryant to step it up.
— I wonder what’s going on with Jimmy.
— Too bad Hampton isn’t available. Hopefully, he can shine in Sioux Falls.
GO HEAT!!!
Dont forget ORobinson,Cole Swider and JCain to step up . Especially Cain, I got money on him being the next hidden undrafted gem but its turning out to be Highsmith so this is the time for these guys to show their stuff
Are Cain, Hampton and Swider with Heat or with Sioux Falls for opening day G League game?
https://basketball.realgm.com/gleague/teams/Sioux-Falls-Skyforce/6/rosters
So no Butler.. I doubt Heat will score 100 points.
Except Dunc will score 30.
Will also need for Highsmith to go off for 20, Guac-ez for 15, Love for 10 and JRich for 5.
Are you crazy, JRich for 5? He is not exactly MVP, you know.
If he hits the rim occasionally and loose less then 3 balls, we have a chance.