The Miami Heat face the Denver Nuggets on Saturday in their NBA restart opener. The Denver Nuggets injury report tilts the game towards Miami though.
The Miami Heat open up the second part of their 2020 season on Saturday. Facing off against the Denver Nuggets, in what is to be a home contest for the Nuggets squad, the Miami Heat must try to bounce back from a numbing loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in their last scrimmage.
Although that game didn’t count, any defeat and especially in that fashion needs to be washed away with a win of some sort. Saturday provides that opportunity for the Miami Heat.
While the Memphis Grizzlies did play out of their minds on the offensive ends in that game, you would like to think that Erik Spoelstra didn’t show everything. What that means is that although some of the stuff we saw happen would have happened regardless, there were some things that Spo may have tried to do differently if this game were one that counted.
In any situation, the Miami Heat need and have to be better on Saturday, especially if they think they are going to get a win against a tough Denver Nuggets team. It is worth a mention though, the Nuggets won’t have the altitude as an ally here in the restart but other teams won’t have that as an excuse either.
The Miami Heat open their restart on Saturday against the Denver Nuggets. The Heat should have a leg up on the injured Nuggets though.
Regardless of that though, there will be a slight advantage from a personnel perspective on Saturday for the Miami Heat. Here it is, per the twitter account of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Ira Winderman.
It will be Nuggets Lite vs. Heat on Saturday. For Denver:
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) August 1, 2020
Gary Harris (hip) out.
Will Barton (knee) out.
Vlatko Cancar (foot) out.
Jamal Murray (hamstring) questionable.
If Jamal Murray does suit up, they will still be without two starters in Will Barton and Gary Harris. Harris and Barton account for 25.5 of their 110.4 points per game this season, while adding Murray to that group would leave them without 34.3 of those points.
That’s some serious firepower if they all, including Murray, aren’t to play. You also throw in the fact that they are the three main ballhandlers for this Nuggets team, while Harris and Barton are their two best perimeter defenders.
The Miami Heat will still have to come to play, but this should help their cause of winning. Again, the Miami Heat shouldn’t rest their mentalities at all as if this is an easy win, but the injury report does favor them in their NBA restart opener against the Denver Nuggets.