The 24-24 Miami Heat are one loss away from losing their 7th seed spot to the current-8th seeded Charlotte Hornets, who are led by All-Star Kemba Walker, making the Heat’s game against one of the league-worst teams in the Chicago Bulls a vital match-up.
If the Miami Heat can continue their two-game winning streak with a solid performance against the Chicago Bulls tonight, it will be the Heat’s longest winning streak since December 23rd, when Miami was on a five-game streak. Which not might be the most difficult proposition in the world, as the Bulls are 1-14 in their last 15 games.
If there was ever a three-game winning streak to go on, this would be one of the easier ones for the Heat to pull off, as Miami beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, and now, hopefully, the Chicago Bulls tonight.
After Wayne Ellington got the surprising start last game vs. the Knicks, filling in smoothly for the injured Tyler Johnson, we may see Head Coach Erik Spoelstra give Ellington the reigns once again at the shooting guard position. Deservingly so, with Ellington ending up with 19 points on 6-13 from the field and 4-11 from downtown, ending the Knicks game with 8 points in the last few minutes of the game, pulling out the late-win for Miami.
Not to mention, per Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, there may be a few more injuries to watch out for in this game vs. the Bulls tonight, on both teams’ benches:
"“Bulls listing Zach LaVine as questionable for tonight vs. Heat with a sprained right ankle. Both Wade (knee) and Tyler Johnson (calf) still listed as questionable by Heat. But Wade posted on Instagram he was about to take his pregame nap (with his daughter in his arms).”"
With the Bulls possibly without their leading scorer in Zach Lavine (22.9 PPG), the Bulls will have to decide to will get the majority of the offensive sets in this one, making the Heat’s job easier to pull out a win, essentially leaving the heat to only stop Lauri Markkanen from blowing up in this one.
However, you can expect Jabari Parker and Bobby Portis off-the-bench to take advantage of the injury-riddled Miami Heat frontcourt with Derrick Jones Jr. out the next six weeks, so while the Heat are supposed to be taking “games off” vs. teams like the Bulls, they cannot let up in this one, as they need to try and push for homecourt advantage over the remainder of the season if they truly want to make a run in the playoffs.
Here are our projected starting lineups for both teams:
Miami Heat Projected Starting Lineup:
- PG, Justise Winslow
- SG, Wayne Ellington
- SF, Josh Richardson
- PF, James Johnson
- C, Hassan Whiteside
Injuries: Goran Dragic out; Tyler Johnson QUEST; Dwyane Wade QUEST
Chicago Bulls Projected Starting Lineup:
- PG, Kris Dunn
- SG, Shaquille Harrison
- SF, Wayne Selden
- PF, Lauri Markkanen
- C, Robin Lopez
Injuries: Zach LaVine QUEST; Wendell Carter Jr. OUT; Chandler Hutchinson OUT; Denzel Valentine OUT
You can tune in to see the Heat play at AmericanAirlines Arena against the Bulls at 7:30 PM Eastern, it should surprisingly be a key win for the Heat, hoping to grab a three-game winning streak, heading to play a solid Oklahoma City Thunder Friday, February 1st.