(Mandatory credit: Imagn Images)
After undergoing a five-game losing streak, the Miami Heat finally snapped their skid on the road versus the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday. Now, both squads are set for their second straight matchup and rematch following the Heat’s 120-103 win the other night.
This will be the fourth and final game between the two teams for the season series, as Miami can go an impressive 3-1 against the fourth seed Cavs on the year with another victory. The Heat are still battling for play-in and/or playoff positioning, where they currently remain the 10th seed in the East at a 39-34 record. They are one game behind the seventh seed, 1.5 back from sixth and two games back of fifth.
However, they are running out of time to make any significant jump in the standings with just nine regular season matchups remaining.
Most importantly, this final window of games is crucial for coach Erik Spoelstra to finally find the right rotations with a fully healthy roster. He re-experimented with a Tyler Herro-Norman Powell combo in the starting lineup, alongside Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins and Bam Adebayo, the other night in Cleveland— and it worked. The lineup change moved Pelle Larsson to the bench. But all five starters, along with eight players overall, scored in double figures.
It was encouraging to see Powell and Herro each look efficient shooting the ball at the same time, and finally displayed the threat that they could provide to opposing teams together. It only took 70+ games into the season, right!?
Miami will hope to pull it off again versus the Cavaliers before heading to Indiana on Sunday.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Cleveland Cavaliers:
- Jarrett Allen (knee) — QUESTIONABLE
- Dean Wade (ankle) — OUT
- Jaylon Tyson (toe) — OUT
- Craig Porter Jr. (groin) — OUT
- Riley Minix (g-league) — OUT
- Olivier Sarr (g-league) — OUT
- Tristan Enaruna (g-league) — OUT
Miami Heat:
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. (ankle) — QUESTIONABLE
- Jahmir Young (g-league) — OUT
- Vlad Goldin (g-league) — OUT
- Trevor Keels (g-league) — OUT
- Terry Rozier (not with team) — OUT
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Cleveland Cavaliers:
- James Harden, G
- Donovan Mitchell, G
- Keon Ellis, F
- Sam Merrill, F
- Evan Mobley, C
Miami Heat:
- Davion Mitchell, G
- Tyler Herro, G
- Norman Powell, G/F
- Andrew Wiggins, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 7:30 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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The two hottest teams, Atlanta and Charlotte have the most difficult remaining schedules. Toronto is sitting in a good spot based on its current record and difficulty of schedule. Philadelphia, if it stays healthy, could squeeze into a playoff spot. Miami and Orlando would need to get hot to make lock in a 5th or 6th playoff spot.
This year’s final stretch could go down to the wire. The teams that finish 5th and 6th will be playing very good basketball to land those spots and could pose problems for their first round opponents (the 4th and 3rd seeds. In addition, the 7th and 8th seeded teams could (depending on match-ups) pose problems for their first round opponents (the 2nd and 1st seeds). This is not a typical season and these are not typical #5-#10 teams.
FACTS TO CONSIDER
The Cavs height is a factor early.
Couldn’t have a worse start. If we are going to win, it will require us to beat much stronger opposition.
Net Rating in Eastern Conference
DET +7.8
BOS +7.6
NYK +6.6
CHA +4.8
CLE +4
MIA +2.8
ATL +1.8
TOR +1.6
ORL +0.9
PHI -0.2
Miami was the #5 in net until recently when Charlotte surpassed them (and Cleveland). In record Charlotte is looking like this years Pacers, they are 28-12 so far since Jan. 1 (Pacers were 34-14 last year after Jan 1).
I don’t trust a team that relies on 3PT shooting the way CHA does – they take 48% of their shots from 3, only GSW is higher at 50%. That can win them a playoff series but also lose them a series. Still have Miami as the best team outside the top 4 in the east, they have the best defense of the teams outside the top 4 and they have the personnel to be a good shooting team
Miami has 9 games to make up ground on the teams ahead of them.
The Heat is competing for one of two automatic playoff spots if it can finish in 5th or 6th place.
A 7th or 8th place finish will give the Heat two chances to win one play-in game in order to qualify for the playoffs, while a 9th or 10th place finish will require two straight wins to qualify.
It will be interesting to see which of the six competing teams finish the regular season playing quality basketball and which ones stumble. The sprint to the finish begins tonight.
The line on this game is Cavs -5.5. CLE is a bigger favorite here than Spurs were vs Miami at -5. That accounts for the Heat being on the road vs at home vs Spurs but still surprising
CLE was an elite team last year, #1 offense, #8 defense, and a +9.5 net rating.
This year they are a good team, #6 offense, #13 defense, and +4 net.
But they are still being treated as a contender this year with the 2nd best odds to win ECF after BOS. Not seeing the Finals upside with this team and think they are the clear #4 in the East after BOS, DET, NYK
Having said that a win here would still be impressive and it will be another look at the Herro-Powell lineup. Both were efficient last game (Herro 18 points on 11 shots, Powell 19 on 12) thought Powell in particular had a good scoring game
We may be seeing a slightly weakened version of the Cavs. Allen is an integral piece and didn’t play last game, but may play this one. Still missing will be Tyson, who I think is a very good emerging talent. They are still a good team and beating them last game was impressive. But, when healthy, they could go at least to the second round, depending on who they play (Philly, if healthy, could beat them).
The plot becomes even more intriguing. Got to tune in tonite and see if the last game was real.
there a diff team with allen,ware a diff team with where.ware 23 -2 when where is a plus.that means when where plays good we win.play him spobot hes a diff maker nobody else but bam is a diff maker.rest of team ok players no weak links
Wear is spel chek wen yoo knead it?,!…
Don’t. I m proud to be the second worst in that on this forum.
You do a hell of a good job. I admire your multilingual abilities. That is a skill Europeans are so much better than Americans at and I wonder if it helps in articulation beyond just language.
Thanks.
That’s one of the reasons to post here; to not forget the language.
Anyway, learning multiple languages is a normal here. I learned four foreign languages in my life, I m able to use two (and on a good day a little bit of third). That’s about a normal here in Slovenia.
But Italians, French, Spaniards doesn’t speak much else then their language, as Americans and Brits. Its more like a big nation thing, its not that only Americans don’t speak foreign languages.
Maybe, diversity in one area can affect other areas too.
Ware’s being a plus and the Heat winning is correlated but doesn’t mean that is causing wins, and the same stat can be applied to many players. Heat are 12-3 when Herro is a plus, 21-6 when Dru Smith is a plus
Ware doesn’t get minutes because of his defense/defensive rebounding. He had a good game but his defense wasn’t tested vs the Cavs. The Heat have been losing games this season in part because when Bam sits there is no interior defense, and instead of Miami building on its 10 point leads the other team is taking the score back to even/taking the lead
ware needs to play zone d put his 8ft arm length near basket there will be no layups.hes a great rebounder better than bam.when ware plays good we win watch the games quit going to stat websites.hes a diff maker.use him correctly,him and bam need to play 35 mins.spobots not a ware fan it seems he preferred jovic for months shows u what he knows.coaches arent perfect players neither posters to.wares a stud needs minutes quit jerking him around spobot.when ware plays lots minutes wonder what our record is
Ware isn’t a better rebounder than Bam, it’s not even a close comparison. Heat have been better at rebounding every year when Bam is on the court, including when they had Whiteside who was leading the NBA in rebounds per game.
The stats are easy to look up and just a shorthand reference for what is occuring in the game. Can watch Ware give up position on defense multiple times every game and describe each play, but it’s easier to say Heat are the #14 defense in Ware’s minutes and -5% in DREB% when he’s on the court. And it’s nothing personal, has nothing to do with who is a fan of who. Like Kenny Atkinson said, you get minutes in a playoff rotation by showing your ability to play defense