17Nov

With a team suddenly limited by injuries, #Heat coach Erik Spoelstra finds himself relying on Mario Chalmers

By Joe

HEAT (5-5) at NETS (4-5), 7:30 p.m., Barclays Center, Sun Sports/FM 104.3, AM 790 and WAQI 710 AM (Spanish)

LINE: Nets by 6 1/2 (Opened at 5 1/2.)

OFFICIALS: Derrick Stafford, Josh Tiven and James Williams

WHY WATCH: To see if the Heat can overcome all these injuries. Dwyane Wade (hamstring) and Josh McRoberts (foot) are both out and now Luol Deng is questionable with an injured wrist.

SPO-SPEAK: “We’re not making any excuses for injuries or guys in and out of the lineup. That’s this league. What we talked about today at shootaround, welcome to the NBA. Every team is dealing with it. If they’re not dealing with it now, then they’re dealing with it at some point. So, it’s how you manage that and how you respond. Are you getting better or getting worse?”

IS MARIO CHALMERS A STARTER OR BACKUP? “You have to get to know your team, and we need Rio to be out there, so I’m trying to balance him to do both. He needs to play 35 minutes plus. He needs to start the game, but he also needs to be our back-up [shooting guard]. Welcome to our team.”

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Source:: Raanan Katz – Miami Herald – Miami Heat