- The Hawks are steadily holding the 3rd spot in the Eastern Conference standings, currently in a 5 game winning streak regardless of the absence of franchise star Joe Johnson. A victory for Miami would result in a tie for the coveted 3rd spot under Orlando and Boston (currently tied for 1st). A loss would keep the Heat a close 5th.
- This is the team’s first regular season meeting but the rivalry has already taken to the court in pre-season with the Hawks emerging victorious 98-89. In essence, the Hawks’ burly frontcourt bullied their way to rebounds and easy buckets and a Wade-less Heat found themselves assigning James Jones to guard Joe Johnson, who got buckets at will displaying his max contract assault.
- Al Horford and Josh Smith are a beefy handful. Miami will fight fire with water in the form of the slim but floor spacing Bosh-Ilgauskas tandem but can opt for a fiery battle with a Dampier-Magloire onslaught. The pieces are there for Spoelstra to shuffle as necessary, but his adventurous orchestrating remains to be seen.
- Not to repeat ourselves much, here’s the preview, recap and some funky highlights and video review of the pre-season match.
| Home | Away | ||
| Miami | Atlanta | ||
| Heat | Hawks | ||
| 12-8 | Record | 13-7 | |
| (4th of 30) 110.4 | Off Rtg | 110.2 (5th of 30) | |
| (5th of 30) 101.5 | Def Rtg | 106.8 (15th of 30) | |
| (19th of 30) 91.3 | Pace | 90.6 (26th of 30) | |
| Likely Starters | |||
| Carlos Arroyo | PG | Mike Bibby | |
| Dwyane Wade | SG | Maurice Evans | |
| Lebron James | SF | Marvin Williams | |
| Chris Bosh | PF | Josh Smith | |
| Zydrunas Ilgauskas | C | Al Horford | |
| Eddie House | 6th | Jamaal Crawford | |
| American Airlines Arena | |||
| 7:30 PM EST | |||
| Sun Sports / 790 AM | |||
| Injury Report: | |||
| Heat: M. Miller (out 2-3 months), U. Haslem (out indefinitely) | |||
| Hawks: J. Johnson (out 4-6 weeks), Pape Sy (out indefinitely) | |||