The Golden State Warriors (10-2) continue their East Coast road trip Tuesday with a visit to American Airlines Arena to take on the Miami Heat (8-6).
The Warriors head into Tuesday's matchup having won five games in a row, while Miami (playing their third game in four days) is coming off back-to-back wins over the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets.
Projected Starting Lineups
Golden State Warriors
PG: Stephen Curry - 22.6 ppg, 7.8 apg, 5.5 rpg
SG: Klay Thompson - 22.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg
SF: Harrison Barnes - 11.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg
PF: Draymond Green - 12.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg
C: Marreese Speights - 11.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg
Miami Heat
PG: Norris Cole - 7.4 ppg, 3.5 apg
SG: Mario Chalmers - 14.6 ppg, 4.9 apg
SF: Luol Deng - 14.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg
PF: Shawne Williams - 10.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg
C: Chris Bosh - 21.4 ppg, 8.8 rpg
What to Watch For:
Which team copes with injuries better?
The Warriors will definitely be without David Lee (hamstring), and Andrew Bogut is questionable with an orbital contusion after taking a hit to the eye in Sunday's game against OKC. Marreese Speights (game-high 28 points Sunday) will likely fill in at center if Bogut sits out, and the Warriors have enough depth this year that they'll be fine.
Dwyane Wade (hamstring) still doesn't have a return date scheduled, and he'll likely be out Tuesday as well. While Mario Chalmers has filled in well since Wade went down two weeks ago, the Heat will need all the firepower they can get to keep up with Golden State's loaded offense.
Can Marreese Speights keep it going?
Speights has been one of the surprises of the season so far - his jumper is falling, he isn't forcing anything, and his absurd 28.88 PER is third out of all NBA players. The Heat still don't have any interior defenders, and if Speights continues to ball out...Miami could be in for a rough one.
Prediction: Warriors win 112-104
If the Warriors were at full strength, this would probably be over at halftime...but with no Bogut or David Lee, they'll need to improve on their showing against OKC if they want to win in Miami. The Heat will need Chalmers, Deng and Bosh to be on point if they want to have a chance in this one, and against Golden State's defense, that's a tall order.
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