The New Orleans Pelicans visit South Florida on Wednesday to play the Miami Heat in an NBA preseason matchup. New Orleans is 3-0 through its first three games of the preseason after defeating the San Antonio Spurs 111-97 on Sunday. Trey Murphy III was the leading scorer for New Orleans with 27 points. Zion Williamson played 24 minutes and scored just eight points for the Pelicans but grabbed nine boards.
Brandon Ingram sat out for New Orleans with a sore left toe and high-scoring guard CJ McCollum was held out because of a right ankle problem. However, the top three for New Orleans Williamson, Ingram and McCollum are all expected to see action on Wednesday versus Miami. It remains to be seen if Williamson can play a full schedule after only playing 85 of 226 games over the past three seasons.
The Miami Heat are 3-1 in the preseason and defeated the Houston Rockets 118-110 in their most recent outing on Monday night. Max Strus was the leading scorer for Miami with 24 points, while three other players each scored 15 points each for the Heat in a game in which Kyle Lowry, Bam Adebayo, Caleb Martin, Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler did not play.
Miami's roster for the season will look very similar to that of last year with Kyle Lowry, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy Butler, Nikola Jovic and Bam Adebayo expected to be the starting five. Jovic is a talented rookie, who could start the season as the sixth man with Tyler Herro starting. The Heat has a healthy Victor Oladipo and Max Strus gives Miami depth at shooting guard.
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Miami Heat