The Los Angeles Lakers will be looking to bounce back to winning ways when they head to the Kaseya Center in Florida to take on the Miami Heat in the NBA on Thursday morning.
Miami are 9-10 and currently sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings, while Los Angeles are now 12-9 and eighth in the West.
Match preview
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The Miami Heat have split their last 10 games five wins and five defeats, but they will be hoping to avoid a third straight loss here after going down 108-89 to the Boston Celtics on the road on Tuesday.
Jaime Jaquez Jr and Tyler Herro both put up 19 points apiece in the defeat, while Bam Adebayo contributed 15 and Haywood Highsmith chipped in with 10, but no other Miami player managed to get into double-digit.
What was fairly evident from that defeat was that the Heat will need bigger contributions from their bench players to compete against to top teams, as Dru Smith was their top-scorer with eight, while Payton Pritchard came on to put up 25 for the C's.
Erik Spoelstra's side will now return to their home court where they have been in decent shape recently, posting three wins and one loss in their last four, and they will also gain confidence from having beaten the Lakers in their last two encounters.
The Heat are 8-11-0 against the spread and are now averaging 110.1 points scored per game (21st in the league), but they are a top-10 side on defence, allowing 109.8 PPG (eighth in the NBA).
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Meanwhile, the Lakers have started to cool off over the last week and enter this match following their second defeat in three, losing 109-80 to the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road on Tuesday.
D'Angelo Russell led the team with 20 points and five assists, Anthony Davis chipped in with 12 points and 11 rebounds, while LeBron James and Rui Hachimura both got into double digits with the former also picking up eight assists.
The Lakers were evidently feeling the effect of playing on the end of a back-to-back against the Timberwolves, as they were in the contest for the most part, but ran out of steam in the fourth quarter and were outscored 30-16.
After the match, James, who shot just four of 16 from the floor and zero for four from long range, admitted that the side is not good offensively right now and also revealed that they have been trying to focus too much on the defensive end.
The Lakers were +5.5 underdogs heading into the match, and after failing to cover, they are now 8-13-0 against the spread and down to 17th place in the scoring charts, averaging 112.3 points per game.
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Team News
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Jimmy Butler missed four games last month due to a left ankle injury and sat out the defeat to the Celts because of right knee soreness - he is listed as questionable for the upcoming match with the Lakers.
If Butler is unable to return in time for tip-off, he will join the likes of Josh Richardson (illness), Kel'el Ware (right foot tendinitis), Kevin Love (back spasms) and Nikola Jovic (left ankle sprain) on the sidelines.
For the Lakers, Davis managed to feature in the last match but he is likely to remain listed as probable for most games for the foreseeable future as he continues to manage a left foot issue.
Austin Reaves missed both games of the back-to-back this week due to a left pelvic contusion and is flagged as a doubt. If Reaves is out for this match, Russell could play a more significant role in this one.
Miami Heat possible starting five:
Jaquez Jr, Highsmith, Adebayo, Herro, Rozier
Boston Celtics possible starting five:
James, Hachimura, Davis, Russell, Knecht
We say: Los Angeles to win by 3+ points
This is a match where you have to check the lineups before tip-off, as key absences could be the determining factor, but for now, the Heat look likely to be without Butler, and they have not played well without their All-Star this season.
If Butler does not return in time, we feel the Lakers will be able to get the W in this one.
Devesh Jaganath
