The Miami Heat look to build another win streak, as they head to the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Wizards on Friday at 7:00 p.m. EST.
The Heat snapped their seven-game losing streak–the longest of the Erik Spoelstra era–Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings, securing a 115-106 victory. They are tied with the Orlando Magic for the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference at 25-23, 1.5 games back of the Indiana Pacers for the No. 6 seed and 5.5 back of the Philadelphia 76ers for No. 5.
Washington is just three games ahead of the lowly Detroit Pistons in the East, owning the second-worst record across the Association. Though they did win two of their final three to close the month over the Pistons and San Antonio Spurs, but suffered a 16-point loss in their most recent game Wednesday.
The Heat owned the NBA’s fourth-worst NET Rating in the month of January, getting outscored by 6.9 points per 100 possessions; they fielded the third-worst offense with the 14th-best defense. Washington had the third-worst NET (minus-7.3) with the fourth-worst offense and 19th-worst defense.
Miami’s fully healthy outside of Duncan Robinson, who will miss his second consecutive game with a concussion. They are still trying to implement Terry Rozier, who’s averaging 10.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists through five games with Miami, into the offense. Though the soon-to-be 30-year-old guard has found ways to impact when he hasn’t been scoring–including being arguably Miami’s best distributor over this microscopic sample.
Heat superstar Jimmy Butler has also decided to ramp it up over these last three games, averaging 28.3 points on 60.9/62.5/85.7 shooting splits, in addition to 7.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.7 steals in 36.0 minutes.
Can Butler and Co. lead Miami to their second straight win against one of the worst teams in the league? We’ll have to wait and see!
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Jamal Cain (illness) — QUESTIONABLE
- R.J. Hampton (G-League) — OUT
- Duncan Robinson (concussion) — OUT
- Dru Smith (knee) — OUT
Washington Wizards:
- Marvin Bagley Jr. (back) — OUT
- Isaiah Livers (hip) — OUT
Projected Starting 5:
Miami Heat:
- Terry Rozier, G
- Tyler Herro, G
- Jimmy Butler, F
- Haywood Highsmith, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Washington Wizards:
- Tyus Jones, G
- Bilal Coulibaly, G/F
- Kyle Kuzma, F
- Deni Avdija, F
- Daniel Gafford, C
Betting Lines (at the time of this publishing):
- Spread: Heat -8
- O/U: 228
- Moneyline: Heat -335, Wizards +270
Check out those lines and more at Fanduel Sportsbook!
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 7:00 p.m. EST
- TV: Bally Sports Sun
- Radio: AM 560 Sports WQAM & The HEAT Radio Network (Jason Jackson)
- Spanish Radio: WAQI 710 AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda)
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This is a good time for Terry to really show up vs a bottom team and build more his confidence. With that almost non existent defense of Wash our “big four” of Jimmy, Bam, Tyler, Terry can drop 20 each. Or they can just simply win comfortably. Go Heat!
Two in the roll would be just fine.
Maybe Pat will swing a deal for Kuzma. Robinson, Martin and Jovic or pick?
That seems rather rich for Kuzma. Am I wrong? I have no idea what the rumors have been, but that sounds like mucho
It’s two rotation players, a prospect, and a pick for a rotation player that is not an all-star. It’s definitely too much for Kuzma. Trade Jovic or a pick, plus Cain and T-Bryant for Kuzma. Anything else is too much
after watching tonight’s game, I’ll take Jovic over Kuzma
If they play like they’ve been playing during the losing streak, this is a trap game. If they play like they did against Sacramento, this is a get-right game that they should easily win.
The magic number is 30 assists. If they’re even close, it should be a win. Check to see if they’re at 15 by halftime.
Good point
Also watching Rozier to see if he can reach a better balance, like 15 points, 7-8 assists.
yeah, i feel like the team had been playing so bad that it was hard to get a read on Rozier. If they play like they did the last game (win or lose, just play better), we can start to ask more from Scary Terry