Using NBA 2K20 to predict Washington Wizards vs. Miami Heat

The Miami Heat play host to the Washington Wizards in the rematch of a recent embarrassing loss. What does NBA 2K20 have to say about the matchup?

The wait is finally over. The embarrassing loss to the Washington Wizards suffered earlier in the season can now be avenged tonight back at home where the Miami Heat remain a league-best 19-and-1. Sure, they had quite the scare in their previous outing against the Sacramento Kings, which needed overtime to rectify, but the team proved it could reach down deep and pull the bunny out of the hat without their fearless leader Jimmy Butler.

According to tweets from Sun-Sentinel’s Ira Winderman and the Heat official twitter, Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic were on the injury report and upgraded to probable. Hence, there’s hope the team will have both players available for tonight’s revenge game. There is a small wrinkle the injury report does offer though as Duncan Robinson, who has not missed a game this season, is listed as questionable with a right ankle sprain.

Last time these two teams faced off in Washington, it was an all-out assault from every direction as the Wizards would not cool down. Ian Mahinmi had the best game of his career. Jordan McRae seemingly did whatever he wanted when he had the ball. Ish Smith showed us why his nickname should still be Speedy Gonzalez. And undrafted guard Garrison Mathews scored more points than any Heat player that night. This absolutely cannot happen during the rematch. Heat Twitter will burn. *shakes fist*

I shortened the Miami Heat’s rotation to nine players by taking Duncan Robison and continued to distribute the minutes to mimic the action each player has seen the last few games including James Johnson. Afterward, I headed over to the coaching tab and moved up Coach Spoelstra’s run zone tendency from five percent to 50 percent. While on this pane I finally decided to change more of the coaching tendencies. I designated the team’s top three scoring options to be Kendrick Nunn, Butler, and Bam Adebayo in that order. I also changed Bam Adebayo‘s secondary position to power forward since Meyers Leonard‘s positions look that way. Lastly, I edited Tyler Herro,  Butler and Adebayo’s vitals to allow them to initiate the offense.

Special note: Upon suggestion from Heat fan @Eye_Of_RaRa on twitter, I have manually adjusted Kendrick Nunn‘s attributes, badges, and tendencies to match his emerald moments card from the MyTeam game mode as he’s won rookie of the month for the Eastern Conference three times in a row and should no longer be a 78 overall player.

Originally it was suggested we use his ruby card for reference but that card is just way too much of a boost and would make him better than Jimmy Butler. We can’t have that. What I did bring over from that supped up card is the 20 gold badges the card has and coupled them with the tendencies and attributes if the emerald card. An hour well spent.

https://twitter.com/eye_of_rara/status/1215585086122418177?s=21

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

Washington Wizards

Point guard, Isaiah Thomas

Shooting guard, Gary Payton II

Small forward, Bradley Beal

Power forward, Isaac Bonga

Center, Ian Mahinmi

Miami Heat

Point guard, Goran Dragic

Shooting guard, Kendrick Nunn

Small forward, Jimmy Butler

Power forward, Bam Adebayo

Center, Meyers Leonard

Outcome

Washington Wizards 114, Miami Heat 113

Although the Heat ran out to a 10 point lead early in the first quarter, the game was an intense ping pong volley the rest of the way. This tweaked starting lineup feature Dragic has some firepower, and that showed early with the Heat burping up a 30 point quarter to start the game. With the game in the balance, every quarter was decided by two points or fewer. It was indeed a nail biter.

The game was tied at the half, but there was something smelly about the team’s performance. The Heat was missing Duncan Robinson, and that was about as obvious as the pieces Kyrie Irving said the Brooklyn Nets “needed.” *extreme eye-roll*

The Heat were shooting an ice-cold 0-for-7 from behind the 3-point line as a unit, yet they were tied at the break. This was bad news. Led by Bradley Beal, the Washington Wizards are filled to the brim with gunners and currently lead the league in field goals attempted per game. Trading twos for threes is just not going to get it done.

Couple that with a few free points at the charity stripe and a handful of turnovers, and you have the makings of this game; A 114-113 loss to the 11th place Wizards for Miami’s only second loss at home on the season.

When it was all said and done, the Heat coughed the ball up 11 times, which admittedly could’ve been worse but made up for it by scoring 18 fast-break points to Washington’s four. It was clear the gameplan was to score the ball at the rim with 58 points scored in the paint.

That’s fine as long as you don’t send your opponent to the line 38 times like this virtual Heat team did. In the second half, they made a total of four 3-point field goals, and the game was closely contested, they just weren’t able to pull it out this time.

Player stats

Washington Wizards

Bradley Beal – 36 points, 3 assists, 1 steal

Jordan McRae – 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists

Ish Smith – 14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists

Isaiah Thomas – 11 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 1 steal

Gary Payton II – 10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists

Miami Heat

Bam Adebayo – 23 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists

Goran Dragic – 17 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists

Meyers Leonard – 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal

Jimmy Butler – 16 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal

Kendrick Nunn – 14 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal

Honorable mention: Derrick Jones Jr. – 13 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists

Of course, if this prediction is accurate, Heat Nation will be extremely embarrassed and imploring the team to do some soul searching. Maybe there’s a deal out there to be made. Maybe a philosophy/strategic change, or perhaps Dio… Nah! Who are we kidding? Even in all this, Dion Waiters still won’t see the court.