Heat head to New Orleans for final game before All-Star break

The Miami Heat will hope to go into an extended nine-day All-Star break on a high note with a matchup in New Orleans.
(Mandatory credit: Miami Heat/X)

The inconsistency has consistently continued all the way up to the All-Star break for the Miami Heat. Following their embarrassing loss at home to a tanking Utah Jazz team, they will squeeze in one more road matchup versus the New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday night before a much needed nine days off.

Miami is hovering over the .500 mark at 28-27 overall and going into New Orleans with a 12-16 road record. The Pelicans have won two straight games, but have an abysmal 15-40 record at the 14th seed in the Western Conference. This will be the third consecutive game for the Heat against tanking teams.

Over the last 5 matchups between the two, the Heat are 4-1 against the Pelicans— including a 125-106 win at home against them back in January 4. In that victory, Norman Powell scorched the New Orleans defense with 34 points. However, he will be sidelined for the second straight outing with a sore back. Powell will now also miss five of his left seven games.

Of course, Miami is still dealing with Tyler Herro’s availability issues, too. Herro hasn’t played in nearly a full month due to a rib injury and still isn’t with a timetable for a return. Key Heat role player Pelle Larsson is also dealing with an injury that will keep him out for the third consecutive game tonight. After dropping 26 points in the previous loss, Andrew Wiggins has found his way onto the injury report now with a toe sprain. He is listed as questionable.

The Heat will look to continue leaning into Bam Adebayo to lead the way and hope for next man up mentality to follow through with rotation contributions elsewhere.

Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):

New Orleans Pelicans:

Micah Peavy (toe) — QUESTIONABLE

Dejounte Murray (Achilles) — OUT

Trey Alexander (g-league) — OUT

Hunter Dickinson (g-league) — OUT

Miami Heat:

Andrew Wiggins (toe) — QUESTIONABLE

Norman Powell (back) — OUT

Pelle Larsson (forearm) — OUT

Tyler Herro (rib) — OUT

Keshad Johnson (g-league) — OUT

Vlad Goldin (g-league) — OUT

Terry Rozier (not with team) — OUT

Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):

New Orleans Pelicans:

Trey Murphy |||, G

Herbert Jones, G

Saddiq Bey, F

Zion Williamson, F

Derik Queen, C

Miami Heat:

Davion Mitchell, G

Myron Gardner, G

Andrew Wiggins, F

Bam Adebayo, F/C

Kel’el Ware, C

Broadcast Info:

Tipoff: 8:00 PM EST

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Sun (Eric Reid & John Crotty)

Radio: AM 560 Sports WQAM & The HEAT Radio Network (Jason Jackson)

Spanish Radio: WAQI 710 AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda)

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

Heat head to New Orleans for final game before All-Star break

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