Using NBA 2K20 to predict the Miami Heat vs San Antonio Spurs (round 2)

The Miami Heat travel to Texas for a matinee rematch against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday afternoon. What does NBA 2K20 have to say about the matchup?

The Miami Heat get their chance to sweep the season series against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday afternoon in a matinee at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. On Wednesday night the Heat defeated the Spurs 105-100.

In our ongoing NBA 2K20 game-day preview series, we turn to Sunday afternoon’s game between the Heat and Spurs. The Heat bring their 29-12 record on the road to face the 17-23 Spurs.

We’ve been predicting game outcomes for the Heat using NBA 2K20 for more a month, and for better or worse to this point, we’ve only got three games incorrect (seriously, still!). Once again we’ll look to the advanced predictive powers of NBA 2K to get an idea of what to expect in this game between the Heat and Spurs.

First, the ground rules. We modified the Spurs’ lineup to reflect their rotation and minutes from their recent games As for the Heat, we’ll follow their minutes and rotation as closely as possible relative to their past few games.

To reflect the Heat’s defensive tendencies, we moved up head coach Erik Spoelstra’s run zone tendency from five percent to 50 percent. We also changed Bam Adebayo’s secondary position to power forward since Meyers Leonard’s positions look that way. Lastly, we edited Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler, and Adebayo’s vitals to allow them to initiate the offense.

Herro is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game, but we’ll include him in the lineup regardless with optimism.

Starting lineups

Miami Heat

Point guard, Kendrick Nunn

Shooting guard, Duncan Robinson

Small forward, Jimmy Butler

Power forward, Bam Adebayo

Center, Meyers Leonard

San Antonio Spurs

Point guard, Dejounte Murray

Shooting guard, Bryn Forbes

Small forward, DeMar DeRozan

Power forward, Trey Lyles

Center, LaMarcus Aldridge

Outcome

San Antonio Spurs 101, Miami Heat 97

The Spurs win a low-scoring slugfest over the visiting Heat. The Spurs got out to a nine-point lead after one quarter and although the Heat made a light surge in the third quarter, they were never able to make a serious run.

The Heat shot just 42 percent from the floor and 31 percent from 3-point range but the Spurs’ edge from long distance was where this game was won. They shot just 43 percent from the floor but matched it with 43 percent from behind the arc, going 9-of-21.

Player stats

Miami Heat

Duncan Robinson – 16 points, 1 steal

Goran Dragic – 15 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal

James Johnson – 14 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists

Jimmy Butler – 13 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks

Bam Adebayo – 12 points, 18 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block

San Antonio Spurs

DeMar DeRozan – 20 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists

Rudy Gay – 15 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block

LaMarcus Aldridge – 14 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 4 blocks

Trey Lyles – 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists

Dejounte Murray – 7 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block

Make sure to check back Monday morning for our next projections between the Miami Heat and the Sacramento Kings.