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Using NBA 2K20 to predict Miami Heat vs Washington Wizards

By Rahmeaun Rahming

MIAMI, FL - DECEMBER 6: Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat reacts to a play during the game against the Washington Wizards on December 6, 2019 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - DECEMBER 6: Jimmy Butler #22 of the Miami Heat reacts to a play during the game against the Washington Wizards on December 6, 2019 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Miami Heat begin a road trip in the nation’s capital against the Washington Wizards on Monday. What does NBA 2K20 have to say about the matchup?

After an eventful end to the most recent Miami Heat home-stand which saw the team win back-to-back games by only one point, the team looks to close out 2019 with a win in the nation’s capital against the Washington Wizards. Here at All U Can Heat, we’ve been using NBA 2K20 to simulate and predict all Heat games since December 16th (including the loss to the Memphis Grizzlies), and it’s been perfect.

The Heat walk into their last game of the decade in second place in Eastern Conference behind the Milwaukee Bucks. The Heat haven’t ended a year in this position since 2013, where the Big Three of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh led the team there on their way to their fourth consecutive NBA Finals appearance.

Side Note: This 2013-2014 Heat team was firmly stuck behind the Indiana Pacers in second place for all but 19 games that season. Alas, it didn’t matter as they beat the Paul George-led Pacers in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals. If you want to check out the standings by date from basketball reference for yourself, follow this link.

According to the Wizards injury report provided by Ira Winderman of the Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Wizards are banged up and missing pretty much every player you’ve heard of that suits up for Washington. Even Dwyane Wade himself had a very important question for Heat Twitter:

https://twitter.com/dwyanewade/status/1211460899917066245?s=21

I expanded the Heat’s rotation to ten players and continued to distribute the minutes to mimic the action each player saw during Monday night’s win against the Utah Jazz. Afterward, I headed over to the coaching tab and moved up head coach Erik Spoelstra’s run zone tendency from five percent to 50 percent. I also changed Bam Adebayo’s secondary position to power forward since Meyers Leonard’s positions look that way. Lastly, I edited Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, and Adebayo’s vitals to allow them to initiate the offense.

For the Wizards, on the other hand, there was a lot of roster moves I needed to make to get the best representation of the team the Heat will be facing Monday night. I re-called two-way player Garrison Mathews from the G-League. Then signed Gary Payton II and Jonathan Williams in free agency. Somehow Wizards two-way Center Anžejs Pasečņiks wasn’t even in NBA 2K20 so I distributed the 20 minutes he played evenly among the ten remaining players in the rotation. After all the shuffling of roster spots, the lineups were set.

If you want to see the simulation for yourself, check out the latest video on my YouTube channel. There I’ll be showing you the adjustments I made.

Starting Lineup

Miami Heat

Point guard, Kendrick Nunn

Shooting guard, Duncan Robinson

Small forward, Jimmy Butler

Power forward, Bam Adebayo

Center, Meyers Leonard

Washington Wizards

Point guard, Isaiah Thomas

Shooting guard, Gary Payton II

Small forward, Troy Brown Jr.

Power forward, Jonathan Williams

Center, Ian Mahinmi

Outcome

The two teams traded a few buckets early in the first quarter, but this was not a contest as the Heat went ahead to secure a 34 point win. There was a small scare to start the second quarter as the Wizards went on 9-0 run, but that was about it as the Heat closed out their highest-scoring quarter of the game by putting up 36 points. Final score 137-103.

Tyler Herro scored a career-high 33 points. He was hitting his 3-point shots (making 4 of 5) and making his free throws (9-of-9). Jimmy Butler cracked the 20 point club as did Derrick Jones Jr. This team was not falling for the trap, and that’s what matters.

Player Stats

Washington Wizards

Isaiah Thomas – 41 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

Jordan McRae – 13 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals

Troy Brown Jr. – 12 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal

Ish Smith – 12 points, 3 assists

Garrison Matthews – 6 points, 1 assist

Miami Heat

Tyler Herro – 33 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist

Derrick Jones Jr. – 24 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist

Jimmy Butler – 23 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists, 1 steal, 1 block

Duncan Robinson – 18 points, 2 rebounds

Bam Adebayo – 14 points, 21 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks

dark. Next. Challenges facing the Heat in any trade scenario

Hopefully, Dwyane Wade didn’t put the juju on the team by calling this a trap game, but there’s no excuse for Miami not to beat this Wizards team, especially if Bradley Beal doesn’t suit up. The simulation predicted a win, so that’s what we’re going with. Let’s keep this streak going.

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