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Coming off of their best month in franchise history, we can only hope that the Miami Heat can sustain their great play and continue to grow as a team. Looking ahead, the Heat is entering a stretch of games that should keep them the hottest team in the NBA. Over the next 12 days the Heat play 6 games against five different opponents that are very beatable.
Those games are vs. Golden State, @ Charlotte, home-and-home with Milwaukee, @ Portland and @ the Clippers. Only one of those teams is above .500, and that's Portland at 17-16. As of now the combined win percentage for them is .394. Combine that with how well the Heat have played against teams that they ‘should' beat and it certainly seems that Erik Spelstra's crew has the table set for another potential winning streak.
In order to keep that ball rolling the Heat will have first get by the Golden State Warriors. They come into Miami in the process of rebounding from an awful stretch of games that saw them lose 14 of 16 games between Nov 19th and Dec 20th. They have since began turning things around, winning 4 of their last 5, but their next three games are all on the road against Miami, Orlando and New Orleans.
The Heat and Warriors are both teams that can put up a lot of points, but Miami is much better at not giving them up. Golden State and Miami are 9th and 10th in the league at points scored, both averaging a little more then 101 ppg. Defensively though it's a different story. The Heat give up the 2nd least amount of ppg at 91.8 but only 3 teams give up more points then Golden State; they give up 106.2 ppg.
GAME NOTES
- Golden State may be one of the better scoring teams in the league, but Miami held them to their lowest point output at home earlier this year when they beat them 106-84.
- Dwyane Wade scored 35 points in the first meeting between the Heat and Warriors, and he's coming off of back-to-back 40 points games. Another big night coming up for D-Wade?
- The Warriors are one of the better offensive rebounding teams in the league, averaging 12.9. The Heat grab 9.6.
- Former Knicks standout David Lee is doing his thing out west for the Warriors, averaging a double double per game (15.4 points 10.1 reb).
- In his last 5 games against Golden State, Chris Bosh is averaging 28.6 points and 10.8 rebounds.
- On the injury front, only Udonis Haslem (foot) is out for the Heat.
- As for Golden State, Andris Biedrins (ankle) and Dan Gadzuric (groin) are listed as questionable.
Tipoff from the AAA is set for 7:30. Tonight and Tuesday's home games are the last chance Heat fans will to see their team in person for a few weeks. After Tuesday, their next home game will be January 18th against Atlanta.
If you want to go to the game but don't have tickets, don't forget about Peninsula Is Mightier's new partnership with TiqIQ that not only helps you get tickets right here on PIM but they also search through several ticket selling websites and finds you the best deals out there. Click here to see what's available.
Happy New Year everyone! May it be a very happy and healthy one. Go Heat!!