As the All-Star break came and gone, all of a sudden the Miami Heat have been struck with the injury bug. Heading into tonight’s matchup against the best team in the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami will once again be shorthanded.
Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Davion Mitchell and Andrew Wiggins are all dealing with day-to-day injuries. Nikola Jovic is shut down for likely the remainder of the season to recover from a fractured hand. The only one out of that group that could play tonight and listed as questionable is Mitchell.
To make matters worse, the Heat will have the extremely difficult task at hand of somehow taking down the elite play of the Cavs. Cleveland is riding a 10-game win streak and sport the NBA’s best overall record at 51-10.
They are led by superstar Donovan Mitchell and his All-Star caliber cast including the likes of Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen. Evan Mobley, who was named a first-time All-Star this season, will be out with an injury.
Mobley’s absence for the Cavs should at least help with supplementing Ware’s absence for the Heat down low.
Miami will need dominant outings from the Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo duo to have any chance of pulling off the upset. A win would mark back-to-back victories and put the Heat in position to gain some confidence as they face this end of season stretch.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Josh Christopher (G-League) — OUT
- Kel’el Ware (knee) — OUT
- Davion Mitchell (quad) — QUESTIONABLE
- Nikola Jovic (hand) — OUT
- Dru Smith (achilles) — OUT
- Isaiah Stevens (G-League) — QUESTIONABLE
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. (ankle) — OUT
- Andrew Wiggins (ankle) — OUT
Cleveland Cavaliers:
- NOT YET SUBMITTED.
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Davion Mitchell, G
- Tyler Herro, G
- Alec Burks, F
- Bam Adebayo, F/C
- Kevin Love, C
Cleveland Cavaliers:
- Darius Garland, G
- Donovan Mitchell, G
- Max Strus, G/F
- De’Andre Hunter, F
- Jarrett Allen, C
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 7:00 PM EST
- TV: Fanduel Sports Network Sun (Eric Reid & John Crotty) & ESPN
- 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!
Max Strus is carrying that team, I tells ya. They were middling before he showed up.
Then he got hurt and was out 29 of Cleveland’s 61 games. Actually, his stats are not that impressive, compared to his last 3 years (8.8ppg /4.3 rpg/ 3.2 apg). He has 3 years remaining on his 4 year/$63M contract. Glad we let him walk, as well as others, e.g., Martin, Cain, Mills, Crowder, Tucker, Vincent, Derrick Jones Jr., etc.
He will play great tonight. The rule of the ex.
It is what it is. The team just needs to show up, play hard and let the chips fall where they may. Whatever happens, because of injuries, tonight’s Miami rotation is not the same one Cleveland is likely to face in the first round, if the Heat ends up the 8th seed.
I’m still waiting to see when Johnson gets some playing time. Now is the perfect time to let the veterans rest, to the extent possible, and play the younger fellows (Johnson, Larsson, Christopher, Stevens) as much as possible. 7th place (29-31) Miami has nothing to lose. They probably aren’t going to catch sixth place (35-27) Detroit or be overtaken by 11th place (21-40) Brooklyn.
Wow, we are seriously outmanned.
Yup. It’s unbelievable that Cleveland has clicked at such a high level this season. At 51-10 after 61 games, they are three games better than last year’s, Boston team, which was 48-13. The Celtics went on to easily win the Eastern Conference and NBA Championships.