The Philadelphia 76ers play host to the Miami Heat on Wednesday night in a Valentine's Day showdown from the Wells Fargo Center. The Heat come into this one in seventh-place in the Eastern Conference standings, while the 76ers find themselves in fifth-place. The only other meeting between these two came down to the wire back on Christmas Day, as the Heat came away with the home win, giving them their seventh win in the last ten meetings between these two. Expect this to be the top game on Wednesday's slate and one that fans will certainly want to be locked in for.
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Miami might sit behind their typical place in the conference standings but a winning road record should give them confidence in this one. They are coming off of a road win against the Bucks the last time out and while having to travel to Philadelphia is sure to come with challenges, they have plenty of talent to lean on. Adding on that they grabbed a win in this series the last time out, plus dominating this series over the last few seasons, and there's no reason to think that they can't grab the win in this one. It seems like they've been able to put their three game losing streak from the end of January behind them and look every part of an Eastern Conference contender of late.
The Heat have four players listed on the most recent injury report, with key names listed. Josh Richardson (shoulder), Terry Rozier (knee), Jimmy Butler (personal), and Dru Smith (knee), have all been rul ed out. Given the lack of depth at the guard position with those absences, it'll be interesting to see how Miami handles this one.
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Miami's offense has taken a serious step back this season, ranked in the bottom five of the league in field-goal percentage and most other field-goal categories. The three-point shooting has fallen off too and considering their struggles within the injury report, it seems reasonable to question where the offense will come from. The defense hasn't been much better and losing Butler's flexibility on that end will be difficult for this group to overcome. Expect Tyler Herro to see plenty of the ball, while Bam Adebayo expects to have a great matchup in this one.