GAME PREVIEW: Reeling Heat to take on shorthanded Clippers at home

The Miami Heat is in the midst of a four-game losing streak, coming off an embarrassing loss to the Denver Nuggets at home on Wednesday night. In the loss, Bam Adebayo, Kendrick Nunn and Precious Achiuwa were the only Heat players to finish in double-digit territory for scoring.

While the Heat did an okay job against MVP frontrunner Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets’ bench bigs Michael Porter Jr. and JaMychal Green shredded the Heat.

Miami will be looking for a bounce-back performance as it takes on one of the leaders of the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers are coming off a loss to the Atlanta Hawks in a game where Kawhi Leonard and Paul George were absent due to COVID-19 contact tracing protocols, meaning Los Angeles will be looking for a bounce-back victory of its own.

Both Leonard and George, alongside Patrick Beverly, are expected to miss tonight’s contest versus the Heat. Ideally, that would provide an opportunity for the Heat to earn its first win in over a week but the Clippers’ depth is superior. It’ll be up to Adebayo to step up again and deliver a big game in order for the Heat to escape with a victory.

ODDS: FiveThirtyEight gives the Heat a 67% chance to win.

HEAT VS. CLIPPERS: THURSDAY, JAN. 28 AT 8:00 P.M.

INJURIES

MIAMI:

• Jimmy Butler, Questionable
• Meyers Leonard, Questionable
• Tyler Herro: Questionable
• Moe Harkless: Questionable
• Goran Dragic: Questionable
• Chris Silva: Questionable

LOS ANGELES:

• Kawhi Leonard: Out
• Paul George: Out
• Patrick Beverly: Questionable
• Jay Scrubb: Out

Projected Starters

Clippers:

PG Reggie Jackson

SG Luke Kennard

SF Terance Mann

PF Nicolas Batum

C Serge Ibaka

Heat:

PG Kendrick Nunn

SG Duncan Robinson

SF KZ Okpala

PF Kelly Olynyk

C Bam Adebayo

BROADCAST INFO

TV: FOX SPORTS SUN, NBA League Pass

RADIO: The Ticket 790AM & The HEAT Radio Network (Mike Inglis, Ruth Riley Hunter)

SPANISH RADIO: WAQI 710AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda, Joe Pujala)

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