Portland Trail Blazers vs. Miami Heat: Preview, Injuries, How to Watch

Believe it or not, the Portland Trail Blazers are in the midst of their best eight-game stretch of the season as they head home to face the Miami Heat.

Although it might not feel that way after an epic collapse a few nights ago where the Blazers gave up 16 unanswered points and fumbled the game away to the underpowered Dallas Mavericks, the Blazers have won four of the last eight, tying a season-high for that same stretch. During that run, there have been glimmers of hope, most notably from Anfernee Simons who is averaging 24.7 points on 50% shooting (47% from deep on 10 attempts) over the last seven games and who is finally starting to look more like himself after an excruciatingly inconsistent and unproductive start to the season.

In that Dallas loss, we also got to see Donovan Clingan’s best game since returning from injury, playing more minutes than he had since late November and notching his first double-double since Nov. 13.

Portland Trail Blazers (13-24) vs. Miami Heat (19-17) – Sat. Jan. 11 – 7pm Pacific

How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network

How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; NBA TV elsewhere (also available on streaming via NBA TV on League Pass)

Trail Blazers injuries: Deandre Ayton (day to day); Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybulle (out).

Heat injuries: Jimmy Butler (suspended); Josh Richardson, Dru Smith (out).

In the Miami Heat, we see a franchise in flux after Jimmy Butler and his agent played did-he-didn’t-he with private and public direct and indirect statements about wanting a trade out of South Bay. After Heat GM Pat Riley publicly pronounced the trade rumors were a distraction and Butler would not be traded, he reversed course days later, saying Butler had forced their hand and they would indeed entertain offers. The Heat subsequently suspended Butler for seven games for “conduct detrimental to the team.”

On the year, the Heat have been middling, and though winners of their last two they’re also losers of four of their last six. It’s never a good time for your team’s best two players – in this case, Butler and Bam Adebayo – to both have their worst seasons in the last half dozen seasons. Combining that with “the Dame package” save Tyler Herro being unremarkable, you have a recipe for mediocrity.

Whether Heat fans blame Joe Cronin for playing hardball with Pat Riley during the Damian Lillard trade negotiations or have come to realize that Riley is leaning heavily on his reputation and past accomplishments for approval today, the fact remains that these two teams are much closer to each other than either fanbase expected heading into the year.

Reader Questions

Before most games, we ask you all to make our previews better by asking us questions! Keep your eyes peeled for posts just like this to add your questions and (possibly) have them answered right here in these very previews!

From LeftCoaster25:

Where is Jimmy Butler going to land?

No clue. Butler’s $48M this year and his player option for a whopping $52M loom large not only in a team’s willingness to trade for him, but their ability to do so under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. Matching salary would be difficult; finding a team that wants an aging superstar who has publicly agitated his way off multiple teams is another; combining finding both of those things with a return package to Miami that they want makes this needle very difficult to thread. I don’t know who will blink first in a game of chicken between Butler and Miami GM Pat Riley, but if the Feb. 6 trade deadline comes and goes with Butler still in Miami, things will get very interesting indeed.

From raoulduke:

How many draft picks will the Heat have to send out to move Butler?

That’s another part of the Butler equation I didn’t touch on above: just how much of a negative is Butler’s contract seen around the league? And since the Heat – by repeatedly failing to meaningfully build around Jimmy Butler, and instead making cost-cutting moves on the margins – have all but signaled they don’t want to compete at the moment, it’s very difficult to believe they’re willing to mortgage their future to get off a contract if they were unwilling to do so a year ago to pair Butler and Adebayo with an All-NBA guard in his late prime.

From kacee:

Please compare and contrast the games of Adebayo and Ayton. Although Adebayo has the higher points p/gm average, Ayton averages more rebounds and shoots a higher percentage. How do they compare in making their team better?

I was going to answer this, but I see BEdge commenter oregoner replied with the following: “Bam guards all five positions and sets bone crushing screens.”

Yep. Pretty much. Adebayo hasn’t had his best year, but he has mobility and defensive awareness and effort that Ayton will never possess.

From pdxpar5:

How close is Thybulle to returning?

We haven’t heard much since Thybulle suffered a setback ramping up to return from his initial injury. We were told three to six weeks… a little over six weeks ago. So, soon? We hope?

About the Opponent:

Yahoo! sports analyst Vincent Goodwill doesn’t thing Butler has an issue with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, according to Jake Elman of SI Miami Heat, but that Butler doesn’t trust the Heat to center his preferences as they search for a trade:

On the Jan. 6 episode of Five On The Floor, Yahoo! Sports NBA analyst Vincent Goodwill said he didn’t believe Butler and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra have issues working with one another. With rumors persisting about Butler’s short- and long-term future in Miami, Goodwill told host Ethan Skolnick he believes the All-Star forward can play—without too many issues—ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline. “I feel like Jimmy can come back and play because the thing already happened,” Goodwill said. “Now, would I expect both sides to sit in this boiling pot? No, I really don’t, Ethan, because it’s just ugly… [Butler doesn’t believe] if he played the year out, played his ass off … that the Heat would actually do right by him,” Goodwill explained. “I get the sense that his camp doesn’t feel like the Heat would do right by him.”