Thanksgiving Eve gave Heat Nation a bounce back win against the Charlotte Hornets to be thankful for. The now 8-8 Miami Heat climbed back into the .500 mark, and now have a chance to eclipse that tonight against the visiting Toronto Raptors. It will be the final NBA cup matchup prior to teams heading to Vegas for the in-season tournament.
The Hornets win featured another All-Star worthy performance from Tyler Herro, who exploded for 27 points and 8 rebounds on 50% shooting. He came up huge in the clutch with a game-winning 3-pointer and steal on the defensive end. Jimmy Butler, who sat out the entire fourth quarter of the game due to back tightness, is listed as probable heading into tonight.
Terry Rozier and Duncan Robinson each found themselves on the injury report as well, but both are listed as probable. Kevin Love remains the only player likely to miss time this evening, as he is dealing with a sore back of his own. If Love ends up being downgraded from questionable to out, expect rookie Kel’el Ware to receive more opportunity again.
The 7-foot Ware provided a solid impact in his limited playing time, adding 4 points and 5 boards in 12 minutes.
The Heat only had two players record 12 points or more in Herro and Duncan Robinson. Coach Erik Spoelstra will surely look for more contributions from his depth. Bam Adebayo only had 8 points in the win, but still secured a double-double on the night with 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
For the Raptors, they are coming off a double-digit win against the New Orleans Pelicans but have limped into a 5-14 record. They will look for a lot from Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett, as Toronto is dealing with injuries to several guys of their core. Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, Immanuel Quickley and Gradey Duck are all listed as out. Tonight will be the first of back-to-back games between the Heat and Raptors.
Tune in for the Friday night hoops on FanDuel SN Sun with tip-off set for 8:00 PM EST.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Kevin Love (back) — Questionable
- Jimmy Butler (back) — Probable
- Duncan Robinson (glute) — Probable
- Terry Rozier (foot) — Probable
- Josh Christopher (g-league) — OUT
- Keshad Johnson (g-league) — OUT
Toronto Raptors:
- Bruce Brown (conditioning) — OUT
- Kelly Olynyk (back) — OUT
- Gradey Dick (calf) — OUT
- Immanuel Quickley (elbow) — OUT
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Tyler Herro, G
- Duncan Robinson, G
- Jimmy Butler, F
- Haywood Highsmith, F
- Bam Adebayo, C
Toronto Raptors:
- Ja’Kobe Walter, G
- Scottie Barnes, G
- RJ Barrett, F
- Ochai Agbaji, F
- Jakob Poeltl, 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)
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrus4VmkUt4
This guy is practically begging for some culture
Talking about Reality Czech! Here’s an excerpt from Allucanheat article entitled: “It’s not that confusing: The Miami Heat are consistently inconsistent.
“I do think Miami’s best basketball is ahead of them. They are showing signs of improvement on both ends of the court and they are mostly healthy. Coach Erik Spoelstra is finding the right lineups and right buttons to push.
More importantly, though, they are clearly not at the same level as the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers. Even if the Heat are a solid playoff team (I think they are), it would take something rather miraculous to beat one of those teams – likely the top two seeds in the East – in a playoff series and make the Eastern Conference finals.”
https://allucanheat.com/not-confusing-miami-heat-consistently-inconsistent?utm_campaign=FanSided+Daily&utm_source=FanSided+Daily&utm_medium=email&sc=e0273490fd355e2c28bdb25751d41af65a4dd80936ff00a80be9866c97887955
Coach Spo is not finding the right lineups. I believe the best lineups of this team will be very different that today.
Very interesting article on Jaime’s drop-off this year. Here’s an excerpt:
“So, the slow start has been made worse than it is. He is playing with different players compared to last year, with the majority being less of Butler and more of Terry Rozier. He’s also being put in a different role that has him more of a primary ball handler in the PNR. Those two points alone can cause a player’s efficiency to decline.
But in his case, most of it comes down to not finishing on easy, opportunistic buckets. It’s missing on cuts and putbacks. It’s missing point-blank bunnies at the rim. Those areas aren’t something that declines in a span of few months because of the defense. This seems more of an issue with the body and health. That can explain a lot of the easy misses, such as blowing dunks.
Because when looking at his self-creation, he’s still able to generate as many open looks as he did last year. His rim rate has increased. He’s able to draw fouls at a higher rate. He still consistently gets both feet in the paint that has collapsed the defense. That is equally as important and somehow the defense wasn’t able to figure that out. Right now, the level of concern is low for me. I do expect a strong bounce back from him.
https://allucanheat.com/too-early-to-panic-about-miami-heat-youngster-rough-start?utm_campaign=FanSided+Daily&utm_source=FanSided+Daily&utm_medium=email&sc=e0273490fd355e2c28bdb25751d41af65a4dd80936ff00a80be9866c97887955
Not at his best, obviously.
I wonder what would be if he starts of the place of Jimmy.
I think Spo is asking players to do things outside of their comfort zones and areas of expertise. Like shooting more threes and passing up point blank 2’s. The players are adjusting and most (other than Herro) are having problems doing it.
No KO.
I was looking forward how Ware would look playing against him.
He’ll have his hands full with 7′ 260 lb. Jakob Poeltl.
True.