(Photo via Getty Images)
Following two consecutive home wins for the Miami Heat, they are now heading back on the road— starting with a Friday night Emirates NBA Cup matchup versus the Chicago Bulls.
Outside of placement in the NBA Cup standings, this is a crucial game for both teams. The Heat are currently the fifth seed in the East at a 9-6 overall record, but Chicago isn’t trailing far behind them with an 8-6 record as the seventh seed. In a wild look at the Eastern Conference early on, seeds 2-11 are only separated by 2.5 games. The East is wide open and waiting for someone to emerge, so all these early season matchups matter right now.
Miami is 6-4 over their last 10 games and had their All-Star big man and team captain Bam Adebayo recently return to the lineup in their previous win. Adebayo’s impact was heavily missed on both ends, and he wasted no time getting back into the swing of things. He posted 20 points and 7 rebounds on an efficient shooting night on route to the victory over the Golden State Warriors.
However, Andrew Wiggins is now on the Heat’s injury report and will miss his first game of the season in Chicago. He is out with a hip strain. Nikola Jovic is also out with a hip injury, leaving Miami with just 10 players on standard deals available tonight.
Will the Heat be able to hold off the rising play of Josh Giddey and the Bulls to extend to a three-game win streak? Let us know in the comments!
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Myron Gardner (g-league) — QUESTIONABLE
- Tyler Herro (ankle) — OUT
- Terry Rozier (not with team) — OUT
- Nikola Jovic (hip) — OUT
- Andrew Wiggins (hip) — OUT
- Jahmir Young (g-league) — OUT
- Kasparas Jakucionis (g-league) — OUT
Chicago Bulls:
- Coby White (calf) — QUESTIONABLE
- Tre Jones (ankle) — QUESTIONABLE
- Jalen Smith (pectoralis strain) — PROBABLE
- Zach Collins (scaphoid fracture) — OUT
- Emanuel Miller (g-league) — OUT
- Lachlan Olbrich (g-league) — OUT
- Trentyn Flowers (g-league) — OUT
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Davion Mitchell, G
- Norman Powell, G
- Pelle Larsson, F/G
- Bam Adebayo, F/C
- Kel’el Ware, C
Chicago Bulls:
- Josh Giddey, G
- Kevin Huerter, G
- Isaac Okoro, F
- Matas Buzelis, F
- Nikola Vucevic, C
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 8:00 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)
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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lamelo ball wants out.how bout herro for ball?
You couldn’t possibly have been more critical of Ball about a week ago. Now you want him. Smh. I actually agree with those here that feel the Heat could help bring out the best in him. He’s definitely talented, but so is Herro.
Ball, Morant, Young are all fragile, injury prone, terrible defenders and head cases. Too much baggage and too much money. Need better trade options.
its like getting daniel jones out of nyg baker out of cleve darnold out of nyj.3 very talented nba head cases but with a good system and good players around them could flourish might be worth the risk.norm and ty play same position..its risky but if they talk to the godfather and he shows them all those rings maybe he can get them to play good team ball.all 3 are better ballers than herro.if they can leave their egos at the front door might be the ss we needed
Maybe the same pep talk can get Herro to buy into his new role in the new system. No risk like with others. If they don’t pan out, Heat would get stuck with their contracts. In Herro’s case, they can just trade him.
if somehow u can get ja to buy in hes so talented he could take us to another level.
The team has managed to tread water with all these injuries to important players. Hope we can split the trip 1-1 and come back to Herro’s season debut.
This team is a tough matchup for us, especially without Wiggy, who contributes in some subtle ways that we have no one really to replace.
It’s a tough but interesting matchup. Should be a better and more interesting game than our previous struggles against shorthanded teams, which I didn’t enjoy very much. Having Bam back is huge for us, we don’t have to play Jovic or Jaquez at center anymore and the team plays better with him. Wiggy indeed does contribute in ways that might not always show up on the stat sheet, but his defense and calmness and veteran leadership makes us a better team. Chicago is an interesting team for me, they made very significant changes to their roster in the last two years, got rid of the older players and they seem to be on an upward trajectory. It will be interesting to see how we match up against them.
It will be interesting. Buzelis Is a good player, as is Colby White, Vuc can still score, and Giddey is maybe their best all around player.
I am concerned by Andrew’s injury even though I know that occasionally Wiggins has an off nite. But, I value him so much because no one really replaces his skill set on the Heat, for the reasons you stated above. I do wish we had another two way forward on this roster. We have depth, but not in this area.
Not only that, but you don’t want to upset the second unit chemistry by playing Jaquez in his place.
If Jovic was pulling his weight he could fill in nicely. Unfortunately, right now, his head is somewhere else…and so is his game.
jjj better all round player than wiggy