The Miami Heat are up in the regular season series, 2-1, and now host this year’s head-to-head finale. Also, they just won against the Atlanta Hawks this past Sunday.  Will tomorrow be a repeat?

Catch the game tomorrow at 8:00 AM, Manila time.

HOME: Miami Heat (34-31, 20-12 HOME)

Projected starting five:

• Gabe Vincent
• Tyler Herro
• Jimmy Butler
• Kevin Love
• Bam Adebayo

Sunday’s 117-109 victory on the Hawks was very much needed. They have been on the receiving end of a tough loss night after night, and it was just their second win in eight games.

The win ought to generate some life into this Heat squad, especially since it featured a handful of good performances. Jimmy Butler played more of a decoy mode (only took eight shots), but still had an all-around game of 15 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists, while Bam Adebayo led the charge through 30 points on 10-for-12 shooting, also adding 11 boards, five dimes, and a pair of blocks. Tyler Herro chipped in 20 points. We should continue seeing the trio be the main catalysts.

Though Miami is dead-last in scoring (108.1 PPG), the group has weapons in the second unit, and its top contributor is basically at random at any given day. Caleb Martin and Cody Zeller had 15 and 13 points off-the-bench on Monday, respectively, with the latter doing it in just under 13 minutes of action.

Then again, while all of that sounds nice, do note that the Heat are just 3-10 in their last 13 games ATS.

AWAY: Atlanta Hawks (32-32, 14-19 AWAY)

Projected starting five:

• Dejounte Murray
• Trae Young
• DeAndre Hunter
• John Collins
• Clint Capela

The Hawks have been flip-flopping Ws and Ls over their last six contests, so since they just got beat, maybe tomorrow is going to be a win? Well, it’s tough to tell given that they have dropped four-consecutive games on the road ATS.

Talent is across the board, but all it has brought the team is NBA purgatory, as seen in the win-loss slate. What’s good, however, is that amount of talent can make the group explode any time. After all, it’s Trae Young and Dejounte Murray, two elite players on offense and defense, respectively, followed by John Collins, Clint Capela, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Saddiq Bey, who can all be starters somewhere.

Bey, in particular, actually made Sunday’s loss feel closer as he had a game-high 22 points off-the-bench. Young and Murray laid an egg, combining for 18 measly points on a dreadful 5-for-27 shooting – at least there’s no way but up after that. Finally, Capela will be on yet another interesting matchup opposite Adebayo, and hopefully, he can adjust and give up much this time around.

Over their last 10 outings, the Hawks are scoring 120.6 points and allowing 118.8.

PREDICTION:

Handicap: The Heat (-3) win and cover the spread.

Over/Under: The total hits the over (227.5)