The San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat are both fighting for positioning at the bottom of the playoff picture in their respective conferences, making this game extremely important for both sides.
Projected Starting Lineups
San Antonio Spurs (47-26)
G Tony Parker –14.9 ppg, 4.9 apg
G Danny Green – 12.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg
F Kawhi Leonard – 16.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2.2 spg
F Tim Duncan – 13.9 ppg, 9.2 rpg
C Tiago Splitter – 8.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg
Miami Heat (34-39)
G Goran Dragic – 16.0 ppg, 5.4 apg
G Dwyane Wade – 21.8 ppg, 5.1 apg
F Henry Walker – 8.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg
F Luol Deng – 14.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg
F Udonis Haslem– 4.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg
What to watch for:
Can Miami handle the Spurs in the post?
The Heat are at a big disadvantage in the post because of injuries. Starting power forward Josh McRoberts was lost for the season early in the year, his replacement, Chris Andersen, is questionable with a calf injury, Chris Bosh is out for the year while recovering from a blood clot in his lung, and starting center Hassan Whiteside has a hand injury that might keep him out.
That leaves Udonis Haslem as the only true post player on their roster that is used to seeing minutes, and that's something Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter will look to exploit. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will try to work the ball in the post as much as possible, and the Heat are going to have to find a way to stop that if they want to win.
Prediction: Spurs win 102-91
Miami will give a spirited effort in this one, but the injuries and lack of depth will come back to hurt them in the second half as the Spurs pull away.
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