Heat at Wizards
The Miami Heat, who have lost just four times in 31 games at home this season, hope to begin changing their fortunes on the road when they visit the Washington Wizards on Sunday night. The Heat are fourth in the Eastern Conference despite losing seven of their last eight contests away from home after falling behind by 14 points at halftime en route to a 110-104 setback at New Orleans on Friday.
“We’ve got to figure out this road mentality,” Miami forward Bam Adebayo (16 points, team-high 10.5 rebounds) told the Sun Sentinel after the Heat fell to 13-19 on the road Friday. “We just can’t expect something to happen.” Miami triumphed in four of the last five meetings with the Wizards - including two of three this season with the home team winning all three - and is 2 1/2 games behind Boston for third place in the East with nine road contests left on the schedule. Washington still has hopes of having a postseason as it stands 4 1/2 games behind Orlando for the eighth and final playoff position in the East and five in back of seventh-place Brooklyn after Friday’s 118-112 victory over Atlanta at home. “We had the game in a pretty good spot and then we kind of relaxed,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks told reporters after the win. “When you relax, teams get hot, make a three, make a couple of threes. ... But I thought we made some big plays down the stretch.”
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: FS Sun, NBCS Washington
ABOUT THE HEAT (40-23): Swingman Jimmy Butler poured in 28 points to go along with eight rebounds in Friday’s loss and leads the team in both scoring (20.5) and assists (6.2), but shoots just 24.8 percent from behind the arc. Veteran guard Goran Dragic (16.4) is second on the team in scoring and backcourt mate Kendrick Nunn is fourth behind Adebayo at 15.5, but the 6-2 rookie is just 5-for-19 from the field in the past two contests. Second-year pro Duncan Robinson finished with 51 points combined in the last two games and set an NBA record for made 3-pointers in a season (233) by an undrafted player.
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (23-39): Guard Bradley Beal hopes to continue his scoring surge after recording at least 29 in eight straight games and averaging 39.1 during that stretch to boost his team-leading mark to 30.5 with a team-best 6.1 assists. Davis Bertans (15.3 points per game) also picked it up of late, averaging 21.3 over his past four contests while draining 21-of-43 from 3-point range in that span. Rookie Rui Hachimura is third on the team in scoring (13.7), but the 6-8 forward must rebound from a 0-of-6 shooting performance against Atlanta for just three points - his lowest output since early November.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Washington C Thomas Bryant adds 12.3 points per game on 60.1 percent shooting and leads the way in rebounding (6.9).
2. Miami G Andre Iguodala had season highs of 10 points and seven rebounds in Friday’s setback.
3. Wizards G Ish Smith (10.5 points) is questionable after missing the last two games with a hamstring injury.