MIAMI, FL, Sporting Alert – Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat welcome the Golden State Warriors at the AmericanAirlines Arena on Wednesday night.
The Warriors (50-5) head into this road game as eight-point favourites and seek their third straight win.
Miami (32-24), in the meantime, has won three games in a row and is coming off a battling 101-93 overtime win against the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.
In the victory over the Pacers, point guard Goran Dragic scored 24 points and Hassan Whiteside continued his impressive showing this season with another balanced outing of 19 points, 18 rebounds and six blocks for the Heat, who remain without Chris Bosh because of health reasons.
But it wasn’t a very good shooting night for Wade, despite scoring 16 points, after the All-Star guard went just 4-for-21 from the field, and got half of his total points from free throws.
Golden State had to work hard for their victory over the Atlanta Hawks as well, this after blowing a 23-point lead and left it late in the fourth quarter.
Reigning MVP and the NBA leading scorer Stephen Curry scored 36 points for the Warriors, who became the fastest team in NBA history to reach 50 wins.
Miami isn’t expected to be able to matchup with Golden State in the scoring department, so head coach Erik Spoelstra is hoping his team’s defense, which is ranked second in the NBA this season, will be enough to pull off an unlikely upset at home.
The Warriors have dropped only five games this entire campaign, but all five defeats have come on the road where they have a 26-5 record.
Last time these two teams met on Jan 11, Curry scored 31 points and the defending champions took a 111-103 victory.
Curry comes into the matchup averaging 29.8 points, 6.6 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game and shooting 50.8 percent from the field. He is also shooting 45.5 percent from 3-point range.
But besides Curry, the Miami Heat will need to keep a very close eye on the likes of Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
The home side has some weapon of its own as well, but it will take a complete team effort to keep the traveling party quiet Wednesday night.
Nine other NBA games are on the schedule for Wednesday night.
Full NBA Schedule
Wednesday, February 24
Charlotte at Cleveland 7:00 PM FSOH
New York at Indiana 7:00 PM MSG FSMW
Philadelphia at Detroit 7:30 PM CSN FSDT
Golden State at Miami 7:30 PM CSNB SUN
Minnesota at Toronto 7:30 PM FSN TSN2
Washington at Chicago 8:00 PM ESPN, WatchESPN, CSNB, CSNC
Los Angeles Lakers at Memphis 8:00 PM TWC SN
Oklahoma City at Dallas 8:30 PM FSOK FSSW
Denver at Los Angeles Clippers 10:30 PM ALT FSW2
San Antonio at Sacramento 10:30 PM ESPN, WatchESPN, KENS, CSAC
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