Game story:
Led by Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier, the Miami Heat concluded their road trip with a huge win in Cleveland on Wednesday night. They finished the trip going 3-1, and improved to 38-31 on the season. Miami moved up to seventh seed in the East, just .5 games back of sixth. Tonight the Heat will open up a home stand, with 10 of their next 13 games being inside the Kaseya Center to close the regular season.
This game will be the much anticipated New Orleans Pelicans rematch. New Orleans, coming into the night sporting a 42-27 record, sit at the fifth seed in the competitive Western Conference. They are having a great year, primarily because of the improved availability of Zion Williamson. When Williamson is on the floor for them, they look like a different team.
The last matchup between Miami and New Orleans featured a Heat road win that included a huge scuffle. Jimmy Butler was ejected, following with suspensions for him, Nikola Jovic and Thomas Bryant. It was an altercation that got out of hand quickly following a hard foul by Kevin Love on Williamson.
The Pelicans are playing on the second night of a back-to-back, losing to the Orlando Magic last night 121-106. Williamson was their box score leader with 20 points and 7 rebounds. However, their star Brandon Ingram suffered a bone contusion in his knee during the loss. Shams reported this morning that he will be missing at least two weeks. The rest of the Pelicans injury report has not yet been submitted.
As for the Heat, Bam Adebayo is listed as questionable with his back discomfort. Adebayo sat out the last win in Cleveland but told media that he is “feeling fine.” His status is seen as more of a precautionary measure. Duncan Robinson’s back injury will keep him out tonight, but he is not expected to miss time long term per Anthony Chiang. Tyler Herro and Kevin Love are still out with no expected return anytime soon.
Tonight’s game will tip off at 8:00 PM EST on Bally Sports Florida.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Bam Adebayo (back) — QUESTIONABLE
- Duncan Robinson (back) — OUT
- Tyler Herro (foot) — OUT
- Kevin Love (heel) — OUT
- Josh Richardson (surgery) — OUT
- Alondes Williams (g league) — OUT
New Orleans Pelicans:
- NOT YET SUBMITTED.
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Terry Rozier, G
- Patty Mills, G
- Jimmy Butler, F
- Nikola Jovic, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
New Orleans Pelicans:
- CJ McCollum, G
- Herb Jones, G
- Larry Nance Jr, F
- Zion Williamson, F
- Jonas Valanciunas, C
Betting Lines:
- Check the current odds out at FanDuel!
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 8:00 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!
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Go Heat! Go Warriors! lol
7th seed now, 6th seed later hehe
Every game is important now. Hopefully Bam will play. If so, we should have a reasonably good chance to beat the Pels without Ingram. The Pels are still good and no one should take any solace that Orlando beat them last night as Orlando has been playing better than us lately. We need this one. Go Heat!
If we want to get at least the sixth seed, these are the games we have to win, especially at home.
Some thoughts:
I think I may be the only one here who is not against Mills (sorry h). He’s played pretty poorly, but I think he will have some good games. He’s not afraid and I like his experience. I might be wrong – we’ll see.
I have been impressed by the recent play of Jovic. His defense is improving, he’s growing more consistent shooting, and he is a good ball handler. When he drives to the basket, he takes those long strides that create problems for the defenders.
While Martin has had some struggles lately, I’m still on his side. Goes 100% 100% of the time. He’s had a few amazing blocks the past couple of weeks that were pure hustle.
Delon, Bryant, and Orlando have earned minutes, but at least one of them, likely Orlando, will be mostly back on the bench when others are healthy.
I am obviously no expert but I judge players by my own subjective observations of what percentage a player helps against what percentage he hurts us. To me, we have a few players that only help us a little more than hurt us, and Mills and Jovic are the players who in my view help us the least more than they hurt us. Mills doesn’t have much left, and Jovic is only getting a little better, but every other player helps us more than hurts us by a greater percentage.
But, every player we have should get some minutes and be used right. Both Mills and Jovic do a few things well, particularly shooting threes, but other skills too. We would be best helped if all the players that help more than hurt us by just a little, Bryant, ORob, Love, Wright, Mills, and Jovic, be allowed sparing minutes, where they go all out, and help us where they can.
I like Mills, I think he fills the Kyle Lowry role of veteran point guard that has a bigger impact than his stats will indicate. And I have elevated Jovic to almost the same level as JJJ; they’re both good young players that will continue to improve, just not sure how they’ll adapt to playoff basketball. And I agree with everything you said about Martin. Hopefully his disappointing regular season numbers help the Heat re-sign him to another reasonable contract.
The only disagreement is with the last three. I think Delon and Orlando are fine but they’re not playoff ready. Maybe next season. I do think that if the Heat are going to make a deep playoff run this year, they will need Thomas Bryant at some point.
If that’s the role Mills is intended for yikes.
I see him more in the Wayne Ellington role–shoot, shoot to score, shoot to defend, shoot to foul, shoot to pass the ball inbounds, just shoot the dang ball.
I agree that we may not see the latter 3 much, if at all in the playoffs, though Bryant’s size and Delon’s defense could help. As for Martin, it’d be good if we could give him a 3 year contract at a similar amount as what he’s getting now – $6.5-7 million.
I think both Jaquez and Jovic will be okay in the playoffs – Jaquez because he’s a fearless type of player, and Jovic because he has the Euro tournament experience. Both will have some good and not so good moments.
no ingram helps.loving terry hes so swaggy on the ct,even when they dont drop prefer when they do.orob needs more pt prefer him to bryant.patty should never play again spo scratcher.sunman needs to post during game
As I have mentioned before, I record games and start viewing them about 45 minutes later so I can speed through commercials, half-time and talking heads (especially on NBA TV and ESPN). So much more enjoyable that way. Still finish games close to actual live finish times.
Plus, even if I was watching games live, I am not a good multi-tasker. It’s hard for me to watch a game, rewind and watch good plays and controversial calls and still post comments in real time.
Finally, it’s hard to get a word in edgewise with some folks, posting every 10 seconds. Jus sayin…(name(s) withheld so as not to offend/with all due respect).
GO HEAT!!!
im not offended
Just kidding heat. I have never been one to watch sports and comment other than to my wife, who sits and watches every game with me. I usually have post game comments…unless I’m feeling pissed, then not so much.
I watch all the games after my kids go to bed, so I almost never make the comment section, unless it’s a West Coast game. But good on your wife for watching with you. My wife only cares about the lady in the front row with the fancy dress and Jimmy Butler’s hair
Uhm can your wife talk to my wife? She doesn’t like bb. Or any sport for that matter 🙄😁
Manilla, point out the front row fancy dress lady, then ask her to google the back story. it won’t get her interested in basketball, but it will trick her into watching the heat game with you for a little while. speaking from experience
I’m very fortunate. My gal is almost as rabid a Heat fan as I am. We watch the games and discuss the team in between games.
One game at a time. Good defense will keep them in the game. They will need more offense from the second unit.
GO HEAT!!!
That altercation was an overreaction on some of Pels players. Anyway let’s hope we see another Terry game. And maybe another Jimmy dropping 30. Go Heat!
We need this one.