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On paper, tonight's TNT game is set to be killer viewing, but which team is prepared to come out on top? At the time of publishing, Dwyane Wade is listed as day to day, Josh McRoberts, a game time decision and Luol Deng set to return. Another consecutive game missing Wade is hardly the optimistic news we were hoping for. While Wade has been sidelined the past three games with a hamstring injury, Chris Bosh has struggled offensively.
| Chris Paul | PG | Norris Cole |
| J.J. Redick | SG | Mario Chalmers |
| Matt Barnes | SF | Danny Granger |
| Blake Griffin | PF | Shawne Williams |
| DeAndre Jordan | C | Chris Bosh |
Without Wade there balancing the offense, it's allowed the defense to focus in on Bosh. Part of his struggles has simply been missing shots that he would normally hit but he's admittedly been pressing a bit to correct his shooting woes. If Wade being sidelined ends up becoming more of a regular occurrence, then the remaining players really need to make the effort to make plays for Bosh instead of asking him to create everything himself. Mario Chalmers and Shawne Williams have offered rays of hope lately, as well as very positive stretches from Shabazz Napier.
The Clippers are 6-4 and haven't started as well as expected. Having played in Orlando last night, coming off a back to back should play to the Heat's advantage. The easiest way for the Heat to take advantage of the Clippers is to attack their perimeter defenders with dribble penetration. The Clippers defense has struggled to defend small forwards, which should give Deng a great opportunity to have a big scoring game.
The Clippers are just as poor as the Heat when it comes to offensive rebounding. With the Heat, you can blame it on a lack of size. Or, perhaps it's just that both coaches are so concerned with transition defense at that end of the floor that they're not asking their players to really go after them. This could be good news for the Heat's defense, as they'll typically only need to get the initial stop and not have to worry about second chance points.
It's on the Heat, even if they're depleted, to take advantage of a team coming into town on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Details
TIME: 8:00 PM EST
WHERE: AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami, FL
TV/Radio: TNT, SunSports, LeaguePass / 790 the Ticket
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