The Miami Heat will look to avoid falling to a .500 record and string together a win in Washington DC after losing three of their last four games.
(Mandatory credit: Imagn Images)

Coming off a blown opportunity to steal a win in Boston on Friday, the Miami Heat will attempt to get back in the win column on an early afternoon matchup versus the Washington Wizards to conclude a brief two-game road trip.

Miami has lost two straight and three of their last four, dropping to a 27-26 record and have dipped to the eigth seed in the Eastern Conference. They are 1.0 game behind retaking the seventh seed and 3.5 back of sixth to avoid the play-in picture— which at this point, seems to be their fate for the fourth consecutive year.

The Heat’s matchup will feature a depleted 14-37 Wizards squad, who are the 14th seed in the East. They just made some trade deadline splashes with acquiring each of Trae Young and Anthony Davis, although both seemingly appear to be shut down for the remainder of the season with injuries. Outside of those two, they are dealing with a depleted roster full of injuries throughout. Their best player at the moment is young Alex Sarr and he is listed as questionable going into the game.

Norman Powell and Bam Adebayo are listed as probable for the Heat. However, they will be without Pelle Larsson entirely, as the sophomore guard is out with an elbow contusion after getting banged up in Boston the other night. Larsson’s absence paves an opportunity for coach Erik Spoelstra to revisit the Adebayo-Kel’el Ware starting frontcourt duo. However, two-way wing Myron Gardner has been getting those opportunities as of late.

Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):

Washington Wizards:

Bilal Coulibaly (back) — QUESTIONABLE

Anthony Davis (finger) — OUT

Trae Young (MCL) — OUT

Dante Exum (not with team) — OUT

Kyshawn George (knee) — QUESTIONABLE

Anthony Gill (hand) — QUESTIONABLE

Alex Sarr (ankle) — QUESTIONABLE

Tristan Vukcevic (knee) — QUESTIONABLE

Jaden Hardy (rest) — OUT

Tre Johnson (ankle) — OUT

D’Angelo Russell (not with team) — OUT

Cam Whitmore (shoulder) — OUT

Miami Heat:  

Norman Powell (hand) — PROBABLE

Bam Adebayo (hip) — PROBABLE

Pelle Larsson (elbow) — OUT

Vlad Goldin (g-league) — OUT

Keshad Johnson (g-league) — OUT

Tyler Herro (ribs) — OUT

Terry Rozier (not with team) — OUT

Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):

Washington Wizards:

Bub Carrington, G

Jamir Watkins, G

Will Riley, F

Justin Champagnie, F

Alex Sarr, C

Miami Heat:

Davion Mitchell, G

Norman Powell, G/F

Myron Gardner, G/F

Andrew Wiggins, F

Bam Adebayo, C

Broadcast Info:

Tipoff: 2:00 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!

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