The Miami Heat are hoping to improve their playoff positioning over the final 13 games.
They’ll get their next opportunity Friday night at the Los Angeles Lakers, a team that scored 131 points against the Heat 15 days ago in Miami, the most points they’ve surrendered in regulation in nearly 10 years.
Miami (36-33) will have to take on Los Angeles without Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside.
Wade, the 12-time All Star who returned to Miami last month in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers, will miss his third straight game with a hamstring strain. Whiteside, the Heat’s third-leading scorer (14.3) and top rebounder (11.8), will miss his fourth straight game with hip soreness.
Miami could also be without starting small forward Josh Richardson, who missed his first game of the season in the loss to Sacramento because of a foot injury. He’s listed as doubtful against the Lakers.
The Heat entered Thursday with a comfortable five-game lead over the Detroit Pistons for eighth place in the Western Conference. They’re a half game behind the Milwaukee Bucks and within 4 1/2 games of four other teams.
Miami has lost two in a row after winning six of eight. They’ve dropped the first two games of the current three-game West Coast trip, falling to the Portland Trail Blazers 115-99 on Monday and the Sacramento Kings 123-119 in overtime on Wednesday.
“I think going 0-3 in this road trip wouldn’t sit very well with any of us,” Miami guard Tyler Johnson told the Sun-Sentinel.
Veteran forward James Johnson said now is not the time to be complacent against a Los Angeles team that’s already caught them with their guard down.
“We’ve really got to be resilient, and this is the time it’s no more Mr. Nice Guy from the coaches, from any of the players,” he told the Sun-Sentinel. “We’ve got to be face to face, talk eye to eye and really be one with each other.”
The win in Miami was part of a season-long five-game winning streak for the Lakers (31-37).
They’ve gone 3-3 since that win, but one of those losses was to Portland, which was still riding a 10-game winning streak entering Thursday, and another to the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors on Wednesday.
Los Angeles point guard Lonzo Ball was a big part of the five-game winning streak, playing in four of the games after returning from a month-long absence because of a knee injury, and shooting 14-for-22 from 3-point range in those games. He’s cooled off considerably in the past four games, however, shooting 4-for-29 from beyond the arc.
Lakers coach Luke Walton said he won’t ask Ball to limit his 3-point shooting until gets back in a groove.
“As he continues to grow as a player, he’ll develop other parts,” Walton told reporters after the loss to Golden State. “He depends a lot on his 3, but a lot of that is because teams go under on him. That’s the open shot for him.”
