Mavericks vs Heat Preview, Injury Update, and Game Thread: Welcome to Miami

Part two of a three-game road trip for Dallas

The Dallas Mavericks (9-7) continue their road trip against the Miami Heat (6-7). Dallas is riding the longest active win streak in the NBA and are looking to extend it to five games. The Heat have effectively played .500 basketball, winning every other game. Let’s get to the key things to know:

• WHO: Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat
• WHAT: Keeping the win streak alive
• WHERE: Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida
• WHEN: 5:00 p.m. CST
• HOW: Channel 29, MavsTV, and also Playback with Kirk, Matthew, and David

The Dallas injury report is pretty similar to the past few games. Luka Doncic is still out, and likely will be for at least one more game, as is Dante Exum. Daniel Gafford is an addition to the report; as of now, he’s questionable with a shoulder injury. Somehow Dereck Lively is not on the report after his tough fall following a dunk attempt versus Denver. For Miami, Jimmy Butler is listed as questionable as is Dru Hill. I expect Butler to play.

This is a game Dallas should win on the strength of their offense alone, even without Doncic. However, Miami’s always good at throwing out junk defenses which get offenses out of their normal flow. Look for this game to be one played in the muck where Dallas finally pulls away. Robert turned in a longer preview here.

As you can tell below, you can join me and some other Mavs Moneyball guys in a room on Playback (embedded below) during the game (though I may not be able to start it until halftime). Also, consider joining Josh and I on Pod Maverick live after the game on YouTube, we should start around 7:45 pm. Thanks so much for spending time with us here at Mavs Moneyball. Let’s go Mavs!