Heat at Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies lost at home for the first time in 10 months and will look to start a new streak when the Miami Heat visit on Sunday. The Grizzlies’ 22-game run of home wins was halted 107-101 by the San Antonio Spurs on Friday and a struggling Miami squad attempts to make it back-to-back home losses for Memphis. Miami has lost three straight contests and was routed 109-85 by Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.
The Heat had trouble scoring against the Bucks but even more alarming was being outrebounded 45-20, which left coach Erik Spoelstra mighty frustrated. “Right now, I can’t say if there will be any (lineup) adjustments,” Spoelstra told reporters. “I have to get into the film and look at everything. We’ll go from there.” The Grizzlies have lost consecutive games and one factor has been subpar play from power forward Zach Randolph, who averaged nine points and seven rebounds in the two games.
TV: 6 p.m. ET, Sun Sports (Miami), SportSouth (Memphis)
ABOUT THE HEAT (9-10): Shooting guard Dwyane Wade has settled into his former role as lead offensive player and has scored 20 or more points in eight straight games, his longest stretch since doing it in 13 consecutive contests during the 2012-13 campaign. Wade had 28 points and eight assists against the Bucks but he didn’t receive enough help from his teammates. “Offensively, we couldn’t score the basketball,” Wade told reporters. “You’ve got to put the ball in the basket to win games, and we went for a long time without scoring.”
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (15-4): Center Marc Gasol had 28 points and 12 rebounds in the loss to the Spurs for his 116th double-double to move into third place on Memphis’ all-time list, snapping a tie with Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Gasol has been bothered by a painful bone bruise in his right knee but still played 40 minutes against San Antonio while producing his 10th 20-point game of the season – two more than he had all last season. He has definitely taken a more aggressive approach offensively by hoisting 15 or more shots on nine occasions already this season after doing so just 45 times over his first six campaigns.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Heat expect to be without F Chris Andersen (ankle) while SF Luol Deng (hand) and G Norris Cole (finger) also could sit out.
2. Memphis PG Mike Conley had 23 points and 10 assists against the Spurs for his fifth double-double of the season.
3. Miami PG Mario Chalmers had six steals in the first half against the Bucks to become the fourth player in franchise history to record six in a half.