Game preview for the Miami Heat vs the Washington Wizards.
Heat (12-6) vs Wizards (8-10)
Where: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
When: Monday, Dec. 7, 7:30 PM ET
Watch: CSN, FS-SUN, NBA League Pass
Monday night will see the renewal of acquaintances between two Southeast Division rivals, as the Miami Heat and the Washington Wizards face off for the first time this season. The Heat enter Monday’s game leading both the division and the Eastern Conference, while the Wizards find themselves in last place in the division, and 12th in a very competitive East, sitting four games behind.
Miami will look to close out their four game homestand with a 3-1 record, as they try to take advantage of a schedule that is heavy with home games. After suffering a frustrating loss to the Boston Celtics, last Monday, the Heat bounced back with a big win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, and a blowout of the LeBron James-less Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.
The Wizards are coming into Miami on the second night of a back-to-back, after losing at home to the Dallas Mavericks, and have started the season off to a rocky start, causing some concern in our nation’s capital. While beating the Cavs in Cleveland last week, they followed that up with a dud at home against the Los Angeles Lakers, so the Wizards aren’t coming to Miami on the highest of notes.
Of bigger concern is that John Wall left Sunday’s game with a knee injury and his status for Monday’s game is unknown, but having him miss any time would be catastrophic for the Wizards.
Matchup to Watch: Goran Dragic vs. John Wall
While Wall’s status is up in the air, he will be the center of attention for the Wizards if he plays. When talking about the Wizards, the first thing that usually comes up is their All-Star point guard and this makes him the most important player for the Heat to deal with. Dragic will get all he can handle with Wall, on both ends of the floors, and how he fares in this individual matchup will go a long way to determining the winner of this game.
While Dragic has gotten off to a – for him – slow start to the season, he’s has picked it up recently on offense, averaging 15.5 points and 7.5 assists in his last two games, while shooting 59% from the field. But he has been tremendous on defense, holding opposing players to shooting 7.8% less than their average, so he’s been a revelation on that end. Continuing that trend on Wall is a tall task, but if he can, then the Heat are in good shape.
In the Wizards eight wins, Wall is shooting just under 47% from the field, while dishing out 9.4 assists a game. In their ten losses? Just under 41% shooting and 7.1 assists. While a lot of that has to do with Wall’s teammates hitting shots, cutting off the head of the snake will be important for Dragic.
X-Factor: Gerald Green
When the Heat signed Green in the summer, the idea was that he would be an athletic wing that could be Miami’s threat from beyond the arc. But that has been hit or miss – literally – so far, as Green has struggled to find consistency with his shot, shooting 28% from three. Green is scoring 13.4 points over his last five games, so he has packed some offensive punch.
However, it has been Green’s defense, something he has been criticized for in his career, that has helped assure his spot in not just the rotation, but also in the starting lineup while Luol Deng has missed the last five games because of injury. Even when the Heat have faced offensive juggernauts like Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant, and had the chance of checking James before he sat out Saturday’s game because of
being tired
soreness, Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra has shown little inclination to start Justise Winslow instead of Green.
And Green has answered the bell, holding opponents to 3.8 less shooting percentage in his five starts, and 4.4 less over the course of the season. He will probably see some time on Wizards guard Bradley Beal, as the younger Green can give Dwyane Wade a breather from chasing Beal around.
While we celebrate Green’s improvement on defense, we can’t forget Green can do more on offense, and you never know when he can go off.
Key Stats: 50.2 Net Rating
That net rating belongs to the lineup of Dragic/Wade/Green/Winslow/Chris Bosh, who have played 17 minutes together, but could be a go-to closing group for Spoelstra. Down by two points with just over four minutes left of Thursday’s game against the Thunder, the Heat unveiled that lineup and went on an 8-4 run to close out Oklahoma City, holding them to 1 for 7 shooting and forcing two turnovers. If Monday’s game is close down the stretch, be on the lookout for this lineup trying to finish off the Wizards.