The Miami Heat will host their preseason home opener against the New Orleans Pelicans Sunday afternoon inside Kaseya Center. Tip-off is expected to be at 3:30 p.m. EST.
Miami’s original home opener against Atlanta on Thursday was pushed to Oct. 16 due to Hurricane Milton. It has only played one preseason game so far against the Charlotte Hornets, a 111-108 loss, though it saw breakout performances from rookies Pelle Larsson and Kel’el Ware.
Sunday, meanwhile, could feature the Heat fully healthy–outside of Josh Richardson–for the first time in a long time. Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr., who both missed Tuesday’s preseason game due to groin injuries, are expected to suit up.
No player played more than 17 minutes on Tuesday; Miami will also play four games in six nights, so it will be fascinating to see how the minutes distribution pans out. It swapped out Warren Washington for Caleb Daniels earlier this week, giving them more insurance in the frontcourt.
Regardless, we could get an initial glimpse of what Erik Spoelstra’s nine-man rotation will look like come Oct. 23. We could also get a glimpse at different combinations that Spoelstra’s tinkering with, since the number of lineups were few and far between in Tuesday’s contest.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Josh Richardson (surgery) — OUT
New Orleans Pelicans
- Trey Murphy III (hamstring) — OUT
- Brandon Ingram (undisclosed) — OUT
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Terry Rozier, G
- Tyler Herro, G
- Jimmy Butler, F
- Nikola Jovic, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
New Orleans Pelicans:
- Dejounte Murray, G
- CJ McCollum, G
- Zion Williamson, F
- Herbert Jones, F
- Daniel Theis, C
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 3:30 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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