Memphis Grizzlies will play the second game in a back-to-back set on Saturday night when they host Miami Heat.
Grizzlies (42-25) comes from a loss of 133-124 to Cleveland Cavaliers who snapped the team’s winning line with four games.
When it comes to heat (29-37), they come from a much greater disappointment. Miami lost his sixth straight match, 103-91 to Boston Celtics on Friday.
The heat will try to recover against grizzlies, but they must be more productive than they were at home against Celtics.
Miami was tied with Boston at half and dragged by only one who entered the fourth quarter. But the heat only got 14 points in the final frame.
“We played and competed hard, which visually is what I want to see every day,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “We have done it, not really in the Clippers game (a loss of 119-104 on Wednesday), but we have done so. Against most teams it will probably give yourself a better chance in the route. Against Boston, there will be a double-digit loss.”
It has been a difficult new stretch for Spoelstra. Since February, his team has been surpassed with 126 points during the fourth quarter. No other NBA team has been as unproductive during the last period during that route.
Andrew Wiggins had 23 points on Friday and Tyler Herro had 19 points and six assists.
Spoelstra tried to turn the team’s wealth with an assortment change to Boston. The heat had started Wiggins, Herro, Davion Mitchell, Kel’el Ware and Bam Adebayo in the previous three games, but Spoelstra put Duncan Robinson for Mitchell and Jaime Jaquez Jr. For Ware on Friday.
Adebayo, Wiggins and Herro remained starters.
Robinson, who made in double numbers in nine straight matches from the bench, was limited to six points in 26 minutes against Boston. Despite Robinson’s struggle, Spoelstra said that the new starts five “was quite fluent all the way.”
For Grizzlies, they welcomed all-star Jaren Jackson Jr. Back on Friday after he missed the team’s four previous matches with a left ankle damage. Jackson had 13 points, four steal and two blocks in his return.
Yes Morant led Grizzlies with a season high 44 points against Cleveland, who won their 16th straight match. He has received 20 or more points in 10 straight matches and has been particularly productive in the last five matches by average 32.8 points.
Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said that Grizzlies made questions difficult by allowing 75 points during the first half versus Cleveland, including 13 marks beyond the arch.
“We could have been much better defensively,” Jenkins said. “We dug a huge hole.
“We had a much better effort during the third and fourth quarter. We needed it during the first two quarters against the best team in the NBA. I am disappointed that we did not come in with that frame of mind. We played collection all night.”
-Field level media
