Miami’s top players can sit back and rest while the rest of the East battles for playoff positioning.
GAME STORY
The Miami Heat (52-28) host the Atlanta Hawks (42-38) on Friday night at the FTX Arena at 8:00pm in their final home game of the regular season.
While the idle Heat locked up the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference last night, the Hawks are currently in ninth place and are battling for playoff positioning with the play-in tournament looming. The Brooklyn Nets are in the eight seed at the moment by virtue of a tiebreaker.
Trae Young led the Hawks with a double-double to help beat the Washington Wizards 118-103 at home on Wednesday for their sixth win in their last seven games. Despite the hot run, it’s been a disappointing season for Atlanta, who never really got any momentum going after a strong showing last season in which they ended their four-year playoff drought with a deep run to the conference finals, where they lost to the eventual NBA champions Milwaukee Bucks.
Without much to play for, expect the Heat’s inactive list to grow substantially leading up to tip-off — though tonight will allow the coaching staff to get a good look at players like Victor Oladipo, Markieff Morris, Gabe Vincent and possibly Omer Yurtseven (who did not take part in yesterday’s practice due to illness and is questionable) in their bid to earn playoff minutes.
INACTIVE/INJURIES
MIAMI:
- Dewayne Dedmon: day to day (ankle)
- Markieff Morris: day to day (hip)
- Omer Yurtseven: day to day (illness)
- Kyle Lowry: day to day (rest)
ATLANTA:
- Lou Williams: out (back)
- John Collins: out (finger/foot)
LINEUPS
ODDS
FiveThirtyEight gives the Heat an 69% chance to win the game.
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)
Come back to Hot Hot Hoops at game time to join our GameThread and chat about the game live with other Heat fans!