The Miami Heat have a crucial play-in tournament game set for tomorrow night in Philadelphia against the 76ers. The Heat, who finished the season with a 46-36 record, go into the road matchup as the East’s eighth seed.
No matter what the standings are currently, the winner of this game will take sole possession of the Eastern Conference’s seventh seed. They will then go on to play the second seed New York Knicks on Saturday to open the NBA playoffs. The loser of tomorrow’s game will have one last chance to sneak in as the eight seed against the winner of the 9/10 play-in game.
However, if it goes to a second play-in game, the winner of that one gets the league’s number one overall seed Boston Celtics in the first round.
There is clearly a lot at stake, but the Heat will unfortunately be without the services of their starting point guard Terry Rozier.
Rozier has missed the last full week of the regular season with neck spasms, and it looks like his return is still undetermined. According to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, Rozier did not practice today and will not travel with the team to Philadelphia.
Terry Rozier did not travel with Heat to Philadelphia. Allows for extra treatment if another play-in game, which would be Friday at Kaseya Center.
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) April 16, 2024
Instead, he will stay in Miami and receive extra treatment on that neck with the hope that he could be available if a second play-in game is needed.
Duncan Robinson was upgraded to Probable, and after that there is no one else on the Heat’s injury report.
Terry Rozier (neck) and Josh Richardson (shoulder) ruled out for tomorrow’s play-in game vs. 76ers.
Duncan Robinson is listed as probable.
Tyler Herro and Kevin Love are listed as available.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) April 16, 2024
The Heat are going to be down a significant core player in Rozier for that backcourt rotation tomorrow night. Delon Wright is someone who has been providing strong minutes to close out the season and could be a viable option to fill in.
Since Delon Wright joined the Heat:
◾️ 37 ASTS with 3 TOS
◾️ 1.4 SPG
◾️ 37% on threes
◾️ 8-1 record when playing 19+ minutes— 𝙃𝙀𝘼𝙏 𝙉𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 (@HeatvsHaters) April 15, 2024
At the very least, Wright’s elite point of attack defense on the perimeter is worthy enough for some spot minutes in the postseason. A more lengthy absence for Rozier or if someone else goes down can pave a way for Wright to earn regular minutes during this potential run.
With all things considered, the Heat are in a must-win situation tomorrow night. Not only to avoid the Celtics on the opposite side of the bracket until the Eastern Conference Finals, but to give more time for Rozier to recover.
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to be champions you have to go thru Boston better sooner than later