Heading into the All-Star break with a small sliver of momentum, the Miami Heat began their final 26-game stretch on the right foot Friday.
Miami completely demolished the Atlanta Hawks, and now will return home to face the Memphis Grizzlies inside Kaseya Center on the second night of a back-to-back.
At 30-27, the Heat are just one game back of the No. 6 seed in the East, possessed by the Philadelphia 76ers. They do not own the tiebreaker over the Orlando Magic, who is a 0.5 game above them in the East as the No. 7 seed.
If the Heat can build a hot streak, there’s a world where they end the season as a top-6 seed. That will be a lot easier said than done over the season’s final 25 games, as they have been consistently inconsistent all year. On Saturday, Miami has a chance to form its first three-game win streak in nearly two months against an injury-riddled Grizzlies team, who was without Ja Morant, Zach Edey, Cedric Coward, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Santi Aldama in their nine-point win Friday.
Miami lit the nylon on fire in its first meeting of the season against Memphis, pouring on 146 points en route to a 32-point win. Will it sweep the season series? Let us know in the comments!
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Memphis Grizzlies:
NOT YET SUBMITTED AT TIME OF PUBLICATION
Miami Heat:
NOT YET SUBMITTED AT TIME OF PUBLICATION
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Memphis Grizzlies
- Jaylen Wells, G
- Jahmai Maschak, G
- GG Jackson II, F
- Taylor Hendricks, F
- Lawson Lovering, C
Miami Heat:
- Davion Mitchell, G
- Norman Powell, G
- Pelle Larsson, G/F
- Andrew Wiggins, F
- Bam Adebayo, F/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!
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Check out Hot Hot Hoops on Facebook here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
I sure hope Spo has figured out that last night’s rotation is perfect for the players he has. Herro coming off the bench with Jaquez, Jakucionis and Ware (plus Larsson from the starting unit) works great. It gives the second unit considerable punch. I hope he doesn’t try to start Powell and Herro together. The Heat may beat lottery teams with that starting line-up, but it will get killed defensively by the better teams.
Note: 8 of Miami’s next 12 games are against teams with losing records. If they win 8 of 12 their record will be 38-31, with 13 games to go. 9 of the final 13 games are against teams with winning records. By the end of the season, we should know exactly what kind of team we have going into the play-in round and/or the playoffs. Time will tell.
Keep it rolling. Building confidence and chemistry doesn’t have to happen against only certain teams. It only has to happen in real, live games. Go HEAT!