Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs. Miami Heat – Preseason Game #2
Tre Jones and the Spurs play the Heat on Friday (Photo via Twitter)
The San Antonio Spurs will play their first home game of the preseason on Friday night versus the Miami Heat. San Antonio began preseason action with a loss in Oklahoma City against the Thunder. Despite the defeat, Victor Wembanyama and company gave Spurs fans a lot of things to be excited about.
The Spurs actually play their next three preseason games at home. After those three contests, San Antonio concludes preseason play in Golden State against the Warriors.
San Antonio Spurs Injury Update
After missing the preseason opener against the Thunder due to general soreness, Jeremy Sochan will make his preseason debut against the Heat. Keldon Johnson also missed the game against Oklahoma City with what the team described as general soreness. However, Johnson’s status for the game versus Miami isn’t yet clear. It’s possible that Johnson could miss a second straight preseason affair.
Miami Heat Injury Update
The Heat will be without the vast majority of their firepower on Friday night. Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry, Kevin Love, Caleb Martin, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez and Josh Richardson are all staying back in Miami and won’t even make the trip to South Texas.
With those nine players sitting out, that leaves only a handful of notable NBA players in Miami’s traveling party including Duncan Robinson, Haywood Highsmith, Thomas Bryant and Julian Champagnie’s twin brother Justin Champagnie.
San Antonio Spurs Starting Lineup
Last game, the Spurs started Tre Jones, Julian Champagnie, Devin Vassell, Victor Wembanyama and Zach Collins. With Jeremy Sochan back in the mix, he will likely start in place of Champagnie. If Keldon Johnson also returns, head coach Gregg Popovich will have a difficult decision on his hands. Wembanyama will start but one of Jones, Vassell, Collins, Sochan or Johnson will need to come off the bench.
To add scoring punch to the second unit, don’t be too surprised if it ends up being Johnson who comes off the bench. Johnson led the Spurs in scoring last year at 22.0 points per game. Even if he’s moved to the bench, he’d surely still play a lot of minutes and remain a focal point of the offensive attack.
Betting Guide: Spurs vs. Heat
The Spurs are favored by 6.5 points against the Heat on Friday night. Considering that the Spurs should be fired up in front of their home fans and considering that the Heat will be sitting almost all of their top players, this is a no-brainer to bet on San Antonio to win by seven or more points.