GAME PREVIEW: Miami Heat head back to South Florida for a matchup against the Houston Rockets

Game story:

The short handed Miami Heat are coming off a tough West Coast trip against some great teams in the Western Conference. Tonight, it is the visiting 18-16 Houston Rockets headed to the 305.

The Heat come back to South Florida for this evening’s game going 2-3 on that trip, with the last loss on Friday by the hands of Grayson Allen and the Phoenix Suns.

The Rockets are coming off an impressive win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday, as their young core continues to show progression each season.

Add names like Dillon Brooks and Fred VanVleet to the mix and the Rockets can be competitive against anybody any given night. Although, Brooks is listed as out in Miami for tonight.

The Heat are still without both Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin.

However, Haywood Highsmith is officially off the injury report following his head injury against the Utah Jazz last week. He landed in concussion protocols but luckily the injury didn’t end up being as serious as it looked.

Highsmith missed 3 games following that Jazz loss, but now he is ready to go. His defense will be huge as his wing pressure was missed, considering other elite wing defenders Butler and Martin are still unavailable.

In Miami’s 113-97 loss to the Suns in the last game, Bam Adebayo feasted with a 28/11 double double and Kevin Love continued his hot streak with 20/7 off the bench.

Outside of those two, it was a major struggle offensively for everyone else.

Tyler Herro had just 9 PTS on an abysmal 4/17 shooting, 1/7 from three.

The Heat shot just 41% from the field and 27% from deep as a team. They committed 15 turnovers compared to the Sun’s 9.

After starting the season scorching hot and coming back from injury picking up right where he left off, Herro has been in a minor shooting slump.

It will be important to see how he responds tonight in a guard matchup going up against Fred VanVleet in the backcourt.

The game will tip off at 7:30 PM ET on Bally Sports Florida.

Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):

Miami Heat:

• Kyle Lowry (illness) — Probable
• Caleb Martin (ankle) — Doubtful
• Jimmy Butler (toe) — OUT
• Cole Swider (g league) — OUT
• Dru Smith (knee) — OUT

Houston Rockets:

• Victor Oladipo (patellar tendon) — OUT
• Dillon Brooks (right oblique) — OUT
• Tari Eason (leg) — OUT
• Nate Hinton (g league) — OUT
• Nate Williams (g league) — OUT
• Jermaine Samuels Jr. (g league) — OUT

Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):

Miami Heat:

• Kyle Lowry, G
• Tyler Herro, G
• Jaime Jaquez Jr, F
• Nikola Jovic, F
• Bam Adebayo, C

Houston Rockets:

• Fred VanVleet, G
• Jalen Green, G
• Jabari Smith Jr., F
• Jae’Sean Tate, F
• Alperen Sengun, C

Betting Lines:

• Check the current 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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