In the second night of a back-to-back, the struggling Miami Heat will limp into their next matchup back home to host visiting Sixers.
(Mandatory credit: Imagn Images)

The Miami Heat have lost seven of their last eight games, following their second straight embarrassing performance this past weekend.

They suffered another near-20-point blowout loss on Sunday to the 15th seed (and tanking) Indiana Pacers. It was yet another rock bottom and inexcusable moment that only further solidified their inevitable play-in fate. Miami is now at 39-36 overall and sit in the Eastern Conference’s ninth seed— .5 games back of eighth, and two full games behind the seventh seed Philadelphia 76ers— who are their next opponent for Monday night.

It will be the second leg of a back-to-back set for the Heat, and will travel back home to the Kaseya Center to host Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and co. after a brief 1-2 road trip. The Heat and Sixers are split at a 1-1 record against each other this season, with this game being the tie breaker for their third and final matchup.

With just seven games remaining, Miami somehow jumping from 2.5 games behind the sixth seed to avoid the play-in now seems unattainable. They have buried themselves back into this hole with the constant inconsistencies in the win column throughout this year. Still, these final outings to finish the regular season are still good to solidify rotations— if any sort of play-in to postseason run becomes a possibility.

Miami’s injury report is not yet released, but the status of Norman Powell will be monitored. Powell was sidelined Sunday in Indiana due to an illness and back pain. Tonight’s game against Philadelphia will be nationally televised on Peacock.

Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):

Philadelphia 76ers:

Johni Brooke (knee) — OUT

Miami Heat:  

Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):

Philadelphia 76ers:

Tyrese Maxey, G

VJ Edgecombe, G

Paul George, F

Dominick Barlow, F

Joel Embiid, C

Miami Heat:

Davion Mitchell, G

Tyler Herro, G

Norman Powell, G/F

Andrew Wiggins, F

Bam Adebayo, C

Broadcast Info:

Tipoff: 7:00 PM EST

TV: Peacock

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!

***

To check out our other content, click here.

Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!

Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!

Check out Hot Hot Hoops on Facebook here!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!