After beating the worst team in the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat will turn around and take on the top team in the standings when they face the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
Like on Monday, the Heat will be without multiple starters. It didn’t matter then. It will probably matter now that they are taking on a team that has won 11 in a row.
Here’s what to know for Wednesday night’s tilt.
How to watch Heat vs Cavaliers
Time: 7 pm ET
Location: Rocket Arena, Cleveland
TV: FanDuel Sports Network, ESPN
Stream: NBA League Pass, Fubo
Notable injuries
The Heat will be without Kel’el Ware after Ware sprained his knee last weekend. Andrew Wiggins will also miss his fourth straight game with a right ankle sprain and Jaime Jaquez Jr. will miss his third with a right ankle sprain.
Tyler Herro is questionable with a head cold.
Davion Mitchell, who missed Monday’s win with a left quad contusion, will return to the lineup in Cleveland.
Nikola Jovic (broken hand) remains out. Josh Christopher, Isaiah Stevens and Keshad Johnson are available.
The Cavaliers, playing on the second night of a back-to-back, will have their core rotation available. Evan Mobley missed Tuesday’s game for rest purposes but will be back in the lineup Wednesday.
Key battleground
When the Heat beat the Cavaliers in December, they held Donovan Mitchell to 12 points on 5 of 16 shooting and kept Cleveland off the offensive glass. That all flipped in a January meeting, when Mitchell went off for more than 30 points and the Cavaliers racked up 17 more possessions thanks to offensive rebounds and turnovers.
On Wednesday, the Heat have to start with keeping the possession battle even. That means boxing out and keeping Cleveland’s bigs off the offensive glass. Bam Adebayo will have his work cut out for him with Ware sidelined. Former Cavaliers great Kevin Love can still battle on the boards.
Davion Mitchell will be Donovan Mitchell’s primary defender. In his last game, Davion Mitchell held Jalen Brunson to 10 points and forced three turnovers.
Betting
The Cavaliers are 11.5-point favorites in Cleveland.