Game story:
The 24-19 Miami Heat have a good chance to finally snap this 3 game losing streak back at home against the injury riddled Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies are sporting a 16-27 record and have suffered a boatload of injuries to pretty much their entire starting line up and main core.
The Heat have been the center of news around the league for the past 24 hours following the news on landing Terry Rozier.
Miami has moved on from 37 year old Kyle Lowry and have swapped him for 29 year old, explosive scoring PG Rozier.
Rozier is in the midst of a career year and averaging 23.0 PPG and nearly 7.0 APG.
It was rumored that he is ‘expected’ to make his Heat debut tonight, but it has not been confirmed.
Last night Rozier landed in South Beach and seemed thrilled to begin this new chapter of his career playing for a contending team.
“I’m glad to be a part of Heat Culture, let’s get it… y’all gonna see what all the hype about.” (Rozier via The Miami Heat socials)
The Heat are set to have all of the core available outside of rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. who isn’t quite ready to return from his groin injury. He has made progress, but listed as Doubtful for tonight.
In the last loss against the Orlando Magic Sunday night, everybody struggled outside of Bam Adebayo.
The Heat got blitzed by the young Magic team and lost 105-87. Miami shot just 38% from the field and 32% from deep. They lost the rebounding battle 44-36.
Adebayo was able to put up 22/11/7 but was a -15 on the floor. Not a single player in the rotation was in the positives for the +\- statistic.
Look for a bounce back from most of the guys; Tyler Herro especially.
Herro had just 12 PTS on 4/14 shooting, good for one of his worst shooting performances of the season.
Herro and a few of the guys spoke positively about the Rozier addition, noting that the team may have been in need for a spark.
“I think it’s time for an energy boost around here for sure. Terry’s a great player. And we appreciate Kyle and everything he’s done for us.” (Herro via Tim Reynolds)
The trade was made official, but Lowry needs to complete his physical for Charlotte in order for Rozier to start playing. It is unknown if Lowry has even flew to Charlotte yet.
Be on the look out for any updates regarding Rozier’s status for tonight or tomorrow’s game on the Hot Hot Hoops socials.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Haywood Highsmith (foot) — Probable
- Terry Rozier (trade pending) — Questionable
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. (groin) — Doubtful
- Dru Smith (knee) — OUT
Memphis Grizzlies:
- Luke Kennard (thigh) — Questionable
- Ja Morant (shoulder) — OUT
- Steven Adams (knee) — OUT
- Desmond Bane (ankle) — OUT
- Brandon Clarke (achilles) — OUT
- Derrick Rose (hamstring) — OUT
- Marcus Smart (finger) — OUT
- Santi Aldama (knee) — OUT
- Jake LaRavia (ankle) — OUT
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Terry Rozier, G
- Tyler Herro, G
- Jimmy Butler, F
- Haywood Highsmith, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Memphis Grizzlies:
- Luke Kennard, G
- Vince Williams Jr., G
- John Konchar, F/G
- David Roddy, F
- Jaren Jackson Jr., C
Betting Lines:
- Check the current odds out at FanDuel!
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 7:30 PM EST
- TV: Bally Sports 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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kelly saccos appearance improving.shes heckuva broadcaster especially with the marlins
its january who cares.new player.work him in.take love out of the equation.get bam help pj washington.toppin.bridges,vucevic
heat in a dory funk
rozier got simialr build to wade
main problem with heat pretty simple jimmys not the man anymore
No thread yet? Go Heat!!
Just break the 3 game losing streak pls 😁
Yeah, game thread!
HHH too busy welcoming Terry to the MIA
And no turtle sighting in charlotte
Rozier thoughts.
I believe his ppg will go down into the 18 range, and his apg will go up to between 8-10. And that’s a good thing.
The team is last in scoring at the rim. He will dramatically change that.
He will help Herro and Duncan get more open looks.
The pick and roll game with Bam should be lethal.
I won’t have anxiety attacks when Butler sits from 4-8 minutes in the 4th quarter if he is on the floor. In fact, his presence should allow Butler to rest more, keeping him fresher for the postseason.
He is not a superstar or whale, but I think he’s a perfect fit. Now, while SunMan has Riley’s ear, if we can do that Toppin or similar deal, watch out!
I’m with you on scary Terry. He’s a baller. We have scorers at every position.
I like it. Can’t wait to see him
Eric just mentioned he will be playing tonight!
When it rains it pours…in Memphis.
i need him for brunson .that dude just killed us last year .couldnt give a crape about tonights game rest him save him for boston thursday and knicks.memphis is terrible
Save who?
Why hold him out if he’s ready? As noted, better to acclimate him against a team that’s hurting. We don’t need him for any one player or team. We need him PERIOD.
Yes, Brunson had a great second round series, scoring a ton of points. And all those points resulted in a record of 2-4 and exit from the playoffs.
OMG! That loco was talking about Rozier? Bwahahaha! I was like, nah. Can’t be. Holy $h!t, man. We need to start working on chemistry now! Who better than Memphis before the gauntlet. HHH should consider a temp ban for that suggestion lol 😉
I hate to break the news, but when you’re in 6th and 1 1/2 games out of 8th, every single game from here on in does, in fact, count. The goal has to be to try and finish no lower than 4th to have home court in at least the first round. We got a guy 8 years younger than the guy we sent out. He doesn’t need ‘rest’.
randle and brunson are playing as good as any combo in nba.add divecenzo and og knicks are def better this year .back to back with cs looming and knics on sat thats 3 games in 4 days.hes not needed tonight,id like to see him of course but he just flew in let him chill tonight ck out all the hotties
Yeah to counter the Knicks hot play we’re going to forfeit the ability to get some real playing time in with a new lineup and rotation. Truly genius
Bottom line, if he’s ready and wants to play, you send him in. He’s young and athletic enough to play the 3 in 4.
Still very upbeat about getting Rozier. Some things do work out nicely.
We need Rozier to play because the schedule is about to get rough. No fun trying to integrate a new player during that stretch. Getting a head start tonight could be very beneficial. I hope to see Scary Terry out there. Let’s go HEAT!