Heat, Pelicans bid to enter All-Star break on high note
The Miami Heat will be short-handed again when they face the host New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday in the final game before the All-Star break for both teams.
Miami used its 19th different starting lineup of the season and had just 11 available players in Monday's 115-111 home loss to the Utah Jazz.
The Heat were missing guards Norman Powell (back tightness), Pelle Larsson (right forearm strain) and Tyler Herro (ribs). Powell and Larsson have been ruled out for Wednesday's contest, while Herro will miss his 15th straight game.
Miami is also monitoring the status of forward Andrew Wiggins, who is listed as questionable with toe inflammation.
With a limited bench against Utah, the Heat were outscored 54-30 in the paint and lost for the third time in their last four games.
Wiggins led Miami with 26 points, while Bam Adebayo added 23 points and 11 rebounds. Rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis made six 3-pointers and finished with 20 points off the bench.
Jakucionis is shooting 46.8% from 3-point range this season for Miami, which allowed Utah to win for just the fifth time in its last 23 games.
"Gotta figure out how to consistently win games," Adebayo said. "Doesn't matter if it's a back-to-back. Four games in five nights, whatever it is, we gotta find a way to win, even against teams that are, I guess you could say, trying to lose.
"Gotta look in the mirror. That's the biggest thing, that we don't look in the mirror enough to see what we can do better, day in, day out. We kind of go with the flow, then when we get behind, it's kind of when we want to, like, tap in. It's like we've got to have that urgency from the jump and a lot of times, we don't have that."
Miami has won 10 of its last 11 meetings with New Orleans, including a 125-106 home victory on Jan. 4.
The Pelicans are looking to build on an impressive 120-94 home win over the Sacramento Kings on Monday.
Trey Murphy III scored 21 points to lead New Orleans. Jeremiah Fears added 20 and Zion Williamson finished with 18 points and six assists.
The Pelicans recorded their largest margin of victory this season while scoring 34 fastbreak points.
"If we're getting stops on defense and we're disruptive on the defensive end, that's going to lead to good transition for us," New Orleans interim head coach James Borrego said. "This is really good evidence that if you play good defense, it leads to good offense."
Murphy is shooting 57.5% (23 of 40) from 3-point range over the last three games for the Pelicans, who have won five of their last nine games.
"Our intensity has picked up," Fears said. "We've started playing more as a team, moving the ball. Our chemistry has gotten better along the way."
The Pelicans are 27th in the league in 3-pointers made per game (11.2), but Murphy's recent surge is forcing opponents to defend the perimeter.
New Orleans shot 41% (16 of 39) from beyond the arc in the win over Sacramento, and Murphy's 23 made 3-pointers over a three-game stretch is a franchise record.