Miami Heat at Utah Jazz Game Thread: Stretch bigs will pose defensive challenge for Jazz

The Miami Heat, for all their flaws (basically the big flaw is that "they no loner have Lebron James" on the team) are still a 10 win team that is a few bounces away from being on the right side of .500 right now. They have gone 1-3 on a Western Conference road trip with one more game remaining. Their offense has sputtered and they probably can't wait to take their tired feet back to South Beach. The Utah Jazz will try to send them there with another loss.

Despite the fact that one of these teams has a bunch of stars and has gone to the NBA Finals four straight years in a row, I think we're going to see a good game. The match-ups will be equally devastating as the Jazz have much more talent inside (while the Heat have more 7' footers), and the Heat have a legion of guards who can penetrate almost at will. Miami gets to the line and can't play defense. Utah rarely fouls, and can't play defense.

Honestly, this game is way more interesting than it should be.

Probably because of the injuries . . .

Theorized Starters:

• PG: Norris Cole vs. Trey Burke
• SG: Dwyane Wade vs. Alec Burks
• SF: Luol Deng vs. Gordon Hayward
• PF: Josh McRoberts vs. Enes Kanter
• C: Chris Bosh vs. Derrick Favors

Probably who we'll see starting tonight:

• PG: Mario Chalmers vs. Trey Burke
• SG: Norris Cole vs. Alec Burks
• SF: Luol Deng vs. Gordon Hayward
• PF: Shawne Williams vs. Enes Kanter
• C: Chris Bosh vs. Derrick Favors

EDIT: Wade is going to play, and will start.

Marquee Match-up:

Gordon Hayward vs. everyone. He could argue that he's the best player on the floor tonight, and with another solid game he can really start drumming up some All-Star hype.

Seriously, it could be just one of those games for the Heat. And for the Jazz, Friday night at home, after a big win against their former Midwest division rivals . . . they'll take what they can get.

Yea. May it's not luck, as the Jazz are 32-22 against the Heat all-time, and a 20-8 in Utah. (And a 12-14 in their own gym) The Heat have been great these last few years, but they're cooling off. And it's Winter in Utah.

GO JAZZ GO!