The Heat will end the month of February with a six-game road trip. They will be without Terry Rozier (right knee), Josh Richardson (right shoulder) for an extended period of time, Jimmy Butler is expected to miss the next two games due to personal reasons. As it always has been in Miami, it’s about the next man up. Duncan Robinson is also questionable next game due to a left shoulder/elbow sprain. Miami looks ahead to facing off against the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers this week.
Miami was going through a good stretch, winning four of their last six games, team was fully healthy, had more reps with their new acquisition in Terry Rozier, and the offense was playing much better than what they produced most of January as they averaged 114.3 PPG last week, their ball movement was also a bright spot as they averaged 27 assist to only 10 turnovers over the last three games. The three point shooting has yet to get back to their beginning of the season eruption where at one point they led the league in three point percentage, but they did shoot 33%. The team will look to shoot better against their upcoming opponents.
The best thing about this Heat team over their recent stretch has been the defense. An area where Miami has been consistent on majority of the season. They have only allowed 103.3 points per game over their last six games, rotations have been better, the intensity on cutting off back door cuts and across the court passes has been better during this stretch.
There is some ground to make up in the standings, being without Jimmy, Terry, Josh and possibly Duncan will be tough to overcome, but Miami has taken on the challenge every time. To beat the Bucks and Sixers they will have to try to replicate their success they have had recently. Also, their fast break scoring is also an area where they hope they can carry over as all three of these teams like to get out and run. Miami remains 1.5 games back from the sixth spot in the East and only 3.5 games back of the fifth-seed. With 29 games remaining, Miami still has a chance to make a run.
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