Heat at Wizards
The Miami Heat are banged up, struggling and will be beginning another long road trip when they visit Washington on Wednesday in the opener of a five-game trek. Playing without several key players and with star Dwyane Wade bothered by a shoulder issue, the Heat fell 91-79 to Milwaukee on Tuesday in their only home game in a span of 12 contests from Jan. 6-29.
Miami has been held under 80 points in consecutive outings and is 1-5 in a six-game stretch. Winning at home continues to be an issue for the Wizards, who have dropped the first two games of a five-game homestand to fall to 9-13 at the Verizon Center. That leaves Washington as one of three Eastern Conference teams - along with woeful Brooklyn and Philadelphia - with a losing record at home. One of those 13 setbacks came earlier this month in a 97-75 loss to the Heat, who held the Wizards to their lowest scoring total in nearly two years.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Sun (Miami), CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington)
ABOUT THE HEAT (23-19): Point guards Goran Dragic (calf) and Beno Udrih (neck) continue to be absent for Miami and both are expected to miss Wednesday's contest, too. The team has dropped five straight games with Wade - who was 1-of-6 from the floor and had five turnovers Tuesday - in the lineup, although it survived his lackluster effort (eight points, 3-of-10 shooting) in the recent rout of the Wizards. Hassan Whiteside had 23 points while making 8-of-9 attempts from the floor versus the Bucks; his teammates shot 29.2 percent.
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (19-21): Washington's 108-98 loss to Portland on Monday was emblematic of their inconsistent season as a whole, as it lost the first and third quarters by a combined 31 points but won the second and fourth by a combined 21 points. Star guard John Wall is riding that up-and-down wave, too, posting nine points on 4-of-17 shooting versus the Trail Blazers after scoring a season-high 36 in Saturday's loss to Boston. "I was frustrated," Wall told reporters. "I had some good looks that I had from the last games, and I wasn't making them. It was frustrating to me because I feel like I was letting my team down."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Heat PF Chris Bosh made both of his 3-pointers Tuesday following a four-game span in which he was 1-of-13.
2. Wizards C Marcin Gortat has posted a pair of double-doubles since returning from a three-game absence due to a knee infection.
3. Wall was 6-of-21 from the floor in the earlier loss to Miami.