With Andrew Wiggins sidelined with injury, the Miami Heat are giving an opportunity to a rookie.
First-year player Pelle Larsson gets the start tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers. He is joined by Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Alec Burks and Kel'el Ware.
Here's the game preview:
Game time: 7:30 p.m., Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
TV: FanDuel Sports Network
VITALS: : The Heat and 76ers meet for the third and final regular season matchup this season. The Heat won both matchups, winning 106-89 in November and 108-10 in early February. The Heat are 73-67 all-time versus the 76ers during the regular season, including 45-25 in home games and 28-42 in road games. Only 2 of the Sixers that played in their last matchup will be available to play for Saturday night's game.
PROJECTED STARTERS
HEAT
G Tyler Herro
G Alec Burks
C Kel'el Ware
F Pelle Larsson
F Bam Adebayo
SIXERS
G Jared Butler
G Quentin Grimes
C Guerschon Yabusele
F Justin Edwards
F Chuma Okeke
INJURY REPORT
HEAT
Andrew Wiggins: Out - Hamstring
Duncan Robinson: Out - Back
Kevin Love: Out - Personal Reasons
Nikola Jovic: Out - Hand
Dru Smith: Out - Achilles
Josh Christopher: Out - G League
Keshad Johnson: Out - G League
Isaiah Stevens: Out - G League
SIXERS
Lonnie Walker: Probable - Neck
Jalen Hood-Schifino: Questionable - Illness
Tyrese Maxey: Out - Finger
Joel Embiid: Out - Knee
Paul George: Out - Knee & Adductor
Jared McCan: Out - Knee
Eric Gordon: Wrist
Kyle Lowry: Out: Hip
Andre Drummond: Out - Toe
Kelly Oubre: Out - Knee
QUOTABLE
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on three-game win streak: "Look, we've had a lot of, a lot of things happen this year and I do really appreciate the resilience of this group and it's such a beautiful opportunity to face some kind of adversity together. I mean, come on, it's professional sports, so it's, it's not like you know working in a hospital or something, but you collectively have an opportunity to face something uncomfortable, and as long as you don't, like, separate, actually the opposite happens. You come closer together from it. You actually can have something beautiful on the other side of some really hard things in this profession."
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
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