The Miami Heat look to salvage the second night of a back-to-back as they travel up to Orlando to take on the Magic Saturday evening inside Kia Center.
The Heat are coming off an unfortunate 104-97 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tyler Herro led the way with 28 points, 12 rebounds and five assists, but the Heat couldn’t generate enough stops late against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams to secure the victory against the best of the West.
Jimmy Butler also only played seven minutes due to an illness–even though he left the game in the first quarter after rolling his ankle–and is listed as doubtful heading into Saturday’s game.
The Magic remain the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference despite ascending star Paolo Banchero missing all but five games with a “tricky” oblique injury. Franz Wagner is also dealing with an oblique injury, yet the Magic have found a way to have the league’s 2nd-best offense–spearheaded by Jalen Suggs, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jonathan Isaac.
The Heat are 13-12 and currently slotted as the No. 6 seed, two games back of their intrastate foe. They are also a 0.5 game ahead of the Atlanta Hawks and 1.5 games ahead of both Indiana and Chicago for the final play-in spot.
The Heat have fallen apart against very good defenses this season; flash back to opening night against Orlando, who whipped Miami by 17. But while the Magic have treaded water without their two-best creators, can the Heat find a way to squeak out a win on the road against Orlando? The proof will be in the pudding.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Jimmy Butler (shoulder) — DOUBTFUL
- Josh Christopher (G-League) — PROBABLE
- Keshad Johnson (G-League) — PROBABLE
- Kevin Love (personal) — OUT
- Josh Richardson (heel) — OUT
OKC Thunder:
- Paolo Banchero (oblique) — OUT
- Gary Harris (hamstring) — QUESTIONABLE
- Jalen Suggs (ankle) — QUESTIONABLE
- Franz Wagner (oblique) — OUT
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Tyler Herro, G
- Duncan Robinson, G
- Jaime Jaquez Jr., F
- Haywood Highsmith, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Orlando Magic:
- Jalen Suggs, G
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, G
- Tristan da Silva, F
- Goga Bitadze, F/C
- Wendell Carter Jr., 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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Uh oh, RC will be missing in action again. Will be checking the phone.