The Heat have eight games until their regular season ends, and they are rolling. Going for a season-long 6-game win streak, 6 games above .500 for the first time this season...things are looking up. I'm telling you all this because despite the very easy remaining schedule, things can change in an instant. Yeah, the Heat should breeze through this road trip easier then the one they went on last week, but take nothing for granted.
Wanna be surprised? Michael Beasley is still the 2nd leading scorer on the Heat behind...you guessed it, D-Wade. Super Cool is averaging 14.8 ppg but his production is way down of late. His rebounding, something that was a plesant surprise at the beginning of the season, has been slacking. Every month this season his rebounding numbers have gone down, and his teammates have certainly noticed. Said Wade:
"I would like for Michael to understand the game is not just about putting the ball in the basket. We also want him to rebound the ball, we want him to block shots. We want him to do the other things to help us win ballgames."
I got a nice piece of info from Ira's blog, where he looked at the remaining schedules for the teams around Miami: Milwaukee, Charlotte and Toronto. We already know about how easy the Heat's schedule is (their remaining opponents are a combined 231 games below .500), but get a taste of how difficult the aforementioned teams final games are.
- Milwaukee has a closing schedule that includes Cleveland, Charlotte, Chicago, Phoenix, Atlanta and two games against Boston.
- Charlotte has a closing schedule that includes Milwaukee, Atlanta and Chicago twice, plus road games at Houston and New Orleans.
- Toronto has a closing schedule that includes Cleveland, Boston, Atlanta and Chicago.
In the standings watch for tonight, Milwaukee plays @ Cleveland, while the Bobcats are hosting Philly and Toronto will face the Clippers at home.
GAME NOTES
- Miami is on a hell of a streak, going 11-3 in its last 14 games.
- Detroit meanwhile is on an 8-game losing streak, giving up 110.0 points and allowing opponents to shoot 53.9% during the rough patch.
- Ben Wallace (remember him?) is listed as questionable with soreness in his knees. He has missed 12 of the Pistons last 13 games.
- Other Detroit injuries include Rodney Stuckey listed as probable and Rip Hamilton listed as questionable, both nursing ankle injuries.
- Miami has been pretty defensively dominant of late, holding their last 5 opponents to an average of 80.4 points and 35.7% shooting from the field.
- The Heat are on a 4-game win streak against the Pistons.
Tipoff from the lovely Palace at Auburn Hills is set for 7:30. Game thread will kick-off at 7...Lets go Heat!!