GAME PREVIEW: Heat continue road trip, visit Pistons

GAME STORY

The Miami Heat will take on the Detroit Pistons (4-12) on the second stop of a four-game road trip. The Heat lost a 10 point 4th-quarter lead in Washington on Saturday night and have had two long days in between before this matchup.

The Pistons are coming off a close defeat to the Lakers, where they blew a double-digit second-half lead. But all of that was lost in the midst of the scuffle between LeBron James and Isaiah Stewart. Stewart received a two-game suspension from the NBA and will not be available for this.

In fact, Stewart and Kelly Olynyk will miss, leaving the Pistons front-court depth in real trouble. Something that Bam Adebayo should be able to feast on in this game. The Pistons really only have two problems the Heat will need to deal with — Jerami Grant and the growing and evolving game of Cade Cunningham. Grant has traditionally played well against Miami, but the Heat should have more of a focus on him with this lineup. Cade has been playing well also.

Detroit’s biggest problem is that they are dead last in the league in opponents FG% at 48%. That means teams are hitting and scoring on them easier or more efficiently than others. Honestly, the Heat matchup really well in this game and should have no problem with winning in a convincing fashion.

Cory Joseph is your #RSHK to watch in this game. Unlikely, but possible.

The KEY MATCHUP is going to be Jerami Grant vs PJ Tucker. And that sounds odd, but Tucker has to be able to slow him down defensively for the Heat to be successful. And on the other end, Grant can be a menace defensively, but the Heat will put him in PnR’s enough to make Detroit decide what to do and Tucker will be in the middle of all of that — he will need to be able to make the right read in the middle of the floor.

HEAT VS WIZARDS: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22 AT 7:00 P.M.

INJURIES

MIAMI:

• Victor Oladipo - out (knee; surgery rehab)
• Markieff Morris - out (whiplash)
• Duncan Robinson - questionable (knee)
• Marcus Garrett - questionable (wrist)

DETROIT:

• Isaiah Stewart - out (suspended)
• Kelly Olynyk - out (MCL)
• Killian Hayes - out (thumb)

LINEUPS

BROADCAST INFO

TV: Bally Sports Sun, NBA League Pass
RADIO: The Ticket 790AM & The HEAT Radio Network (Jason Jackson, Ruth Riley Hunter)
SPANISH RADIO: WAQI 710AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda, Joe Pujala)

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