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GAME PREVIEW: Heat travel to Cleveland with hopes of grabbing crucial road win

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Miami must continue racking up wins to secure a playoff spot and avoid the play-in games.

By Surya Fernandez
/ new
Cleveland Cavaliers v Miami Heat Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images

GAME STORY

The Miami Heat (33-30) were able to put their recent loss to the Chicago Bulls behind them with a solid performance against the San Antonio Spurs to emerge victorious in their last game. Now they must take care of business against a lottery-bound team and grab another crucial win when they visit the Cleveland Cavaliers (21-42) tonight at 8pm.

Cleveland have currently lost five straight games and are 0-2 against the Heat so far this season, having lost 113-98 on March 16 as well as 115-101 in their last matchup. Several Cavs players remain sidelined as well, with the Miami Heat relatively healthy with just Victor Oladipo and Tyler Herro listed on the injury report — in addition to Gabe Vincent who is day-to-day. Oladipo continues to heal from his knee injury and will miss at least two more games while Herro did not travel with the team for their two-game weekend road trip due to a foot issue.

At the No. 7 spot with just half a game behind the Boston Celtics to secure a guaranteed playoff seed, the Heat have to treat every game like it’s their last. A win will tie them with idle Boston, who next play tomorrow against the Portland Trail Blazers while Miami visits the Charlotte Hornets.

ODDS: FiveThirtyEight gives the Heat a 74% chance to win the game.

HEAT VS CAVALIERS: SATURDAY, MAY 1 AT 8:00 PM

INJURIES

MIAMI:

  • Victor Oladipo: out (knee)
  • Tyler Herro: out (foot)

CLEVELAND:

  • Isaiah Hartenstein: out (concussion)
  • Dylan Windler: out (knee)
  • Taurean Prince: out for season (ankle)
  • Larry Nance Jr.: out (thumb)
  • Lamar Stevens: out (concussion)
  • Darius Garland: day to day (ankle)
  • Matthew Dellavedova: out (neck)

LINEUPS

Projected Starters

Celtics Position Heat
Celtics Position Heat
Marcus Smart PG Kyle Lowry
Jaylen Brown SG Max Strus
Jayson Tatum SF Jimmy Butler
Al Horford PF PJ Tucker
Robert Williams III C Bam Adebayo

BROADCAST INFO

TV: Bally Sports Sun, NBA League Pass
RADIO: The Ticket 790AM & The HEAT Radio Network (Mike Inglis, Ron Rothstein, Jonathan Zaslow, Tommy Tighe)
SPANISH RADIO: WRTO Mix 98.3 FM (José Pañeda, Joe Pujala). HEAT Spanish Radio Network includes: WEFL ESPN Deportes 760 AM

Come back to Hot Hot Hoops at game time to join our GameThread and chat about the game live with other Heat fans!

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