GAME PREVIEW: The Miami Heat look to snap losing skid without Jimmy Butler against Minnesota Timberwolves

The 2024-25 season has not treated the Miami Heat well. There has been continuity issues, second half collapses and now Jimmy Butler is dealing with an ankle injury. For a team that had such high expectations coming into the year, it has turned out to be the worst case scenario.

Miami is in a make-or-break stretch of basketball during this road trip that includes matchups against several playoff contenders. Tonight, it doesn’t get any easier against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Anthony Edwards has led the Timberwolves to a 6-3 record and they will look to take advantage of a struggling Heat squad missing their best player. They have won three straight games as opposed to Miami dropping three straight. The new-look Minnesota roster with Julius Randle and Donte DiVencenzo are still looking to gain traction in the loaded Western Conference, but they have figured things out much better than the Heat have.

Miami is coming off a decent effort against the Denver Nuggets the other night, where all three of Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo and Duncan Robinson tallied 20+ points. However, Butler’s sprained ankle killed any sort of momentum and optimism. The Heat haven’t been able to figure things out with their star in the lineup and now have to deal with finding solutions without him.

The bright spot has been the play from Herro, who is averaging a career-high in points, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and true shooting. However, his near 23.0 points average has not translated to wins. He’s been the only efficient offensive player on the roster all season long, and is in desperate need of some help. Adebayo and Terry Rozier have great opportunities to step up in the absence of Butler, but they have each had their own sets of issues during this inconsistent campaign.

For the Timberwolves, Edwards is shooting the ball from 3-point range at a career-high clip and is oozing with confidence. Finding a way to run him off that line and work in other ways is still threatening to the Heat defense, but it poses a way to throw the superstar off guard and have to create in different spots than he is used to this season. Randle is still trying to find his footing, but he has played well against the likes of Miami in recent years. Stopping that duo should be the highest priority on the scouting report.

It will be interesting to see how Coach Erik Spoelstra adjusts his rotations with Butler sidelined. Advanced stats show that a starting lineup change was needed with or without him, so guys like Haywood Highsmith and Pelle Larsson should continue to pounce on the opportunity.

Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):

Miami Heat:

• Jaime Jaquez Jr. (return to conditioning) — QUESTIONABLE
• Jimmy Butler (ankle) — OUT
• Josh Christopher (g-league) — OUT
• Keshad Johnson (g-league) — OUT

Minnesota Timberwolves:

• Jaylen Clark (g-league) — OUT
• Jesse Edwards (g-league) — OUT
• Leonard Miller (g-league) — OUT
• Daishen Nix (g-league) — OUT

Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):

Miami Heat:

• Terry Rozier, G
• Tyler Herro, G
• Haywood Highsmith, F
• Nikola Jovic, F
• Bam Adebayo, C

Minnesota Timberwolves:

• Mike Conley, G
• Anthony Edwards, G
• Jaden McDaniels, F
• Julius Randle, F
• Rudy Gobert, C

Broadcast Info:

• Tipoff: 7:00 PM EST
• TV: FanDuel Sports Network 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)

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